Meet The Cabots Two: Wedding Woes
by Bellatrix wannabe 89
Summary: Olivia and Alex are getting married. There's just one little issue; Alex's mom is not going to let this marriage happen without putting up a fight. Will Olivia and Alex be allowed to live in peace, or will this wedding end up going up in flames? AO
1. Chapter 1

I own no one but my own people

A/N 'Sup, peeps? I'm back with more AOey and Lilaness bliss. I highly, highly, HIGHLY suggest you read "Meet The Cabots" before reading this if you haven't done so already. Or if you really don't want to read an awesome, kick ass story conveniently located in my profile, it would be like picking up Goblet of Fire and starting from there. You'd understand it, it would just be more difficult and you wouldn't get all of it. Special shout out to SVUrookie, my kick ass and lovely beta, and once again, her profile is also continently located in my profile as well as my fave author's page if you want to check out her stories. They rock out loud. So enjoy the sequel, and if you're new to this series, then I hope you enjoy it, and if you've read the original MTC, then I hope you enjoy (AND REVIEW!!) this one as much as the first.

AC/DC owns Shook Me All Night Long, and Allison Krauss owns When You Say Nothing At All

Alex's and Olivia's Brownstone, 3:47 PM, June 2nd.

"It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart. Without saying a word, you can light up the dark. Try as I may, I could never explain, what I hear when you don't say a thing."

Alex sang along loudly with the tiny radio in the bathroom, rinsing the shampoo from her hair, the hot steam from the shower rising up around her.

Alex picked up the conditioner bottle and began to sing into it as if it were a microphone.

Little did she know that someone else was looking in at her, chuckling softly, already becoming aroused at the blonds dancing.

"The smile on your face lets me know that you need me! There's a truth in your eyes, saying you'll never leave me! The touch of your hand, says you'll catch me where ever I fall. You say it best, when you say nothing at all!"

The shower curtain was ripped open, and Alex screamed, dropping the bottle as she whipped around, her hands rose in a defensive position, but she instantly relaxed and smiled as she saw the culprit.

"Jesus, Liv, you scared me," Alex breathed as Olivia laughed, looking Alex up and down.

"Like I would ever let some guy spy at you in the shower. That's a private show only I am entitled to. I hope you were singing about me though," Olivia said as she stepped into the tub, the hot steam rising around them.

"Who else, baby?" Alex said, giving Olivia a quick kiss on the lips before picking up the conditioner bottle.

Olivia took it from her and twisted her around before pouring the cream in her own hand and began massaging it in her silky blond hair.

Alex groaned and threw her head back. "I love it when you do that."

"I love doing it to you," Olivia whispered as she kissed her shoulder, her tongue tracing tiny circles on Alex's skin.

Olivia rinsed it from her hair and then turned Alex around to face her, moving the hair from her face.

"You have no idea how much you turn me one," Olivia growled in her ear before her hands inched down Alex's back before grabbing her ass and squeezing.

Alex moaned as Olivia kissed Alex's neck, gently tugging on the skin, her hand moving up her back where they came around front, grabbing and squeezing Alex's breasts, running her thumb over her already hardened nipples as she watched her close her eyes and threw her head back, yearning for more contact.

"God, I love you," Alex whimpered as Olivia rubbed up against her.

"How much?" Olivia asked, her breathing hurrying as she all but slammed Alex into the shower wall, pinning her there, running one hand down her wet body.

"You have no idea!"

Olivia moved her mouth down from Alex's mouth to her jaw line to the hollow of her throat, gently sucking on it.

"Would you tell me anything?" Olivia whispered as she pushed Alex harder against the shower wall, her hands moving down her stomach, resting on Alex's inner thigh.

"Yes," Alex panted, feeling weak in the knees, Olivia supporting her.

Olivia began to rub his fingers on Alex's midsection, just outside her entrance, lapping at her neck.

"Would you tell me," she asked as Alex moaned, pressing her body up against Olivia's as much as could be allowed, and "Who you were on the phone with earlier, hanging up just before I walked in?"

"My mother!" Alex groaned, her nails scratching Olivia's back before kissing her full on the lips.

"What did you two talk about?" Olivia growled softly before kissing her just above her chest, moving her kisses downward.

"Oh god!" Alex panted as Olivia got down on her knees, her hands gripping Alex's ass, kissing her just above her waist line.

"I invited them to stay for two weeks, and they're coming tonight!"

Olivia pulled away from Alex to look up at her. "You what?"

Alex sighed as Olivia stood back up, leaving the blond longing for her touch once more as she turned off the hot water. "You're lying," Olivia said, more of a statement then a question.

Alex shook her head, already beginning to feel a chill from the lack of steaming hot water, despite it being the beginning of June. "I'm sorry, Olivia! It's just she asked and I couldn't say no and-"

"Do you seem to notice?" Olivia snapped, making Alex back up several steps. "That whenever they come to visit, telling me a few minutes in advance is not a good idea!"

"Well last time I only told you about twenty minutes in advance, this time I'm telling you about two hours," Alex argued with a small smile that quickly faltered as Olivia's face remained stone cold.

Olivia shook her head in disbelief before she stormed out of the shower, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

"Olivia, wait!" Alex pleaded, following her out of the bathroom.

"Just leave me alone, Alex," Olivia muttered as Alex followed her into the bedroom.

"First off, you can't just start to have sex with me to pry information. That's the fourth time this month and it's not fair!"

"And going behind my back to talk to her and invite her two weeks prior to the wedding after I specifically said not to isn't fair! This is _our_ wedding, Alex, not Lila's, and you know she's gonna turn it into whatever she wants it!"

Alex sighed and went over to her, trying her damnest not to be intimidated at Olivia's angry face, wrapping her arms around the detectives neck, kissing her softly on the lips, somewhat surprised when Olivia didn't kiss her back. "I'm sorry, okay?" Alex whispered, running her hands through Olivia's hair, and having no effect on her. "It's two weeks until our wedding, and she's my mother. I need to involve her in some things."

"She can choose the color of the trash bags in the venue," Olivia said dryly, removing Alex's arms from around her neck.

Alex frowned at her before trying once more to get her to see her way. "Olivia, she's my mother. We can't just not include her in this. I'm her only child, and she wants to help plan our wedding, there's nothing wrong with it."

"Besides the fact that she's going to try to destroy it."

"Do you really think she has that much power- don't answer that!" Alex said before Olivia could open her mouth, already knowing the truth.

When Olivia still remained dead pan, Alex withheld a glare. "I would have let Serena help with the planning and had a big smile on my face the entire time."

"Well it's a good thing you don't have to pretend with that, do you?" Olivia said, a little more forcefully then she intended.

Alex stayed silent as Olivia sighed, rubbing her temples in annoyance. "There's no way to call and change plans?" she muttered, and Alex withheld a grin, knowing that Olivia had finally given in, and instead looked as somber as she could manage.

"I don't think so. I'm sorry, Olivia, I should have talked to you first before I invited her."

"Its fine," Olivia grumbled, "I just wish I would have had more warning."

"Well we got a little over an hour," Alex offered again.

"And think of what we could do in that hour," Olivia growled softly, looking over Alex's wet and nude body before leaning in, gently biting her ear before she spoke.

"Go turn the shower back on and get it nice and hot for me. I'll meet you in there in a little bit."

Alex grinned as she kissed her again. "I'll be waiting for you," Alex whispered in her ear before she went back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Olivia couldn't help but smirk as she walked away from the bathroom. "Teach you to do something behind my back."

Thirty minutes later, Alex stepped out of the bathroom, with just a towel wrapped around her body as she stepped into the bedroom where Olivia, dawning a black bulky bathrobe, her wet hair wrapped up in a towel, was straightening up.

"What took you so long?" Olivia asked as she tucked the blanket under the bed.

"I should ask you the same thing," Alex grumbled.

"Well I was going to tell you that I decided not to join you, but then deciding you finding out on your own is just so much more fun. But seriously, what took you so long in there?"

"You try having your fiancée kiss and touch you like that before leaving you high and dry on an almost regular basis," Alex grumbled as she went over to her dresser, wrenching open the drawer.

"I'm saving it for the wedding night," Olivia argued, coming over to her before wrapping her arms around her waist, resting her head on her shoulder. "You wouldn't want that night to be like any other night would you? We wait about two weeks to have sex, both of us aching to make love to each other but we deny ourselves. This way that night will be even more."

Olivia reached under Alex's towel and grabbed her crotch, enjoying Alex's soft moan, turning her on beyond anything knowing she was the cause of Alex's pleasure. "Explosive," Olivia whispered before letting go of her and leaving the room.

"God I hate you," Alex grumbled as she stared after Olivia.

An hour later Olivia, still in her bath robe, was upstairs vacuuming the guestroom, while Alex tidied up downstairs, dressed in a short sleeved light blue top that was made of a material so light, it was almost see through, and a black pencil skirt, her hair up in a pony tail.

"She was a fast machine, she kept the motor clean, she was the best damn woman that I ever seen!" Olivia sang, her voice easily carrying over the roar of the vacuum

Alex rolled her eyes to the ceiling, as she hurried to put the newly cleaned plates away, Alex regretting her decision to ever get Olivia an I-Pod for her birthday, much less one that held over 100,000 songs, not being able to go without one day without listening to ACDC, Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, or whatever other band Olivia had classified as music.

Alex had just put the last of the clean dishes away when the doorbell rang, Alex's heart already thudding hard against her chest as she raced to the door.

She took a deep breath, kissed her engagement ring once for luck, before opening the door, once again praying to just get though the weeks ahead.

"Alexandra!" Lila Cabot cried joyfully, an unheard of smile on her face, "it's been too long!"

Alex grinned before turning to Max who stood on the stoop, beaming at his daughter.

"You only speak to her every other day," Max said with a chuckle.

"And it still isn't enough," Lila sighed, taking Alex's hand in hers and looking down at it in almost disappointment. "My little Alexandra is getting married, to a democrat none the less. My baby's growing up."

"Mom, I'm thirty seven years old," Alex said as she moved out of the way for them to come inside.

"Yes, but you're still my only child." Lila let go of her hand and sighed, looking back up at her. "Maybe one day you'll- what's wrong with your face?"

"What?" Alex asked, looking at Max who shrugged, unable to find anything wrong with her before looking back at Lila as they walked into the house. "What's wrong?"

"Well, darling it's just... you're getting married in two weeks, and you haven't gotten a peeling, or Botox, or anything lifted and tucked or-"

"Mother, whatever you think, I'm really not that old, and I don't need those things yet," Alex groaned, already feeling the headache that came with seeing her mother.

"I agree, Lila," Max said as he put the multiple bags down. "She is quite young to start getting chemical procedures done."

"Yes but still-"

"Taken more than her share! Had me fightin' for air! She told me to come, but I was already there!" Olivia's voice interrupted, and Alex closed her eyes in defeat, holding back a scream of frustration for the small, white, music player. "Cause the walls started shakin', the earth was quakin'! My mind was achin'! And we were makin' it'! And you! Shook me all! Night! Long! Yeah you! Shook me all! Night! Long!"

"Alexandra!" Lila cried, her eyes widening, clutching her heart. "Who on earth is singing that disgusting, vile, atrocity the newer generation have dared to deem music? I pray to God that you have an eighteen year old maid upstairs!"

"That would be my fiancée," Alex muttered, struggling to leave out the word 'dead'. "She's upstairs vacuuming and probably didn't hear the door bell."

"So she shouts out these obscenities on a regular basis?" Lila snapped narrowing her eyes at Alex as if it were her fault Olivia had not heard the doorbell ring.

"Well, mom, they're really not that bad."

"One does not shake one all night long and have it not mean something degrading!"

Alex stammered, unable to find an answer, looking at Max for help who was more than happy to offer it.

"Beethoven was deemed to have a negative effect on the youths of his time, and he's probably one of the greatest musicians of all times. Can you really fault Olivia for liking this generations Beethoven?"

"Do not even think of comparing the great Beethoven with an electric guitar and a man shouting about absolute filth and vulgarity!" Lila almost growled at Max before turning back to Alex.

Lila closed her eyes, took a deep breath before opening her eyes once more, forcing the scowl on her face to go away, but by no means was she smiling.

"Well, shall we go and say hello to the woman who is fortunate enough to marry into this family?"

"Mom, don't," Alex pleaded. "Not again, these two weeks are gonna be stressful enough for us without you insulting her every chance you get."

Lila shrugged, before sighing. "Fine, Alexandra. I promise to be good... to an extent."

Alex let out a small groan before forced a smile on her face as she went over and helped Max with the multiple bags, swearing she saw one of them move, but was sure it was just her imagination.

She led them up the steps and into the guest room, where the vacuum was roaring, Olivia still in her bathrobe, and still singing as loud as she possibly could, dancing along with the music.

"You really took me! And you! Shook me all! Night! Long! Ooooohhhh, you! Shook me all night long! Yeah, yeah you! Shook me all! Night! Long! You really got me, and you! Shook me all! Night Long!"

Lila cleared her throat loudly and Alex stormed over to Olivia, tapping her on the shoulder.

"I'm almost done, baby," Olivia shouted over her music, not looking around, still unaware that Lila and Max were standing in the room. Olivia began to chuckle, still not looking behind her. "Don't forget to leave a bowl of kibble and bits by the door. Wouldn't want your mother to go without her late night snack."

"I beg your pardon?" Lila screeched her eyes wide in shock.

Alex ripped Olivia's ear buds out, and Olivia whipped around, slightly glowering at her.

"What the hell, Alex? Don't get all mad- oh holy crap."

Olivia felt the blood rush to her face as she offered a weak chuckle. "I was just kidding, you know, about the kibbles and bits. Just a little joke, you know, ha ha?" Olivia stammered.

"I'm sure of it!" Lila said, her voice portraying the truth, glaring furiously at her.

Olivia cleared her throat before turning to Max who was biting the inside of his cheek so hard it was almost bleeding, trying to keep from laughing.

"Hello, Max. How you doing?"

"Fine, Olivia, yourself?"

Olivia managed a weak chuckle as she wiped the small bead of sweat from her, wringing her hands together.

"I'm um... I'm gonna get dressed."

"Good idea," Alex growled.

Olivia cleared her throat once more before leaving the room, muttering to herself.

Alex sighed before turning to Lila, who was looking at Alex, almost disappointed.

"Mom, I promise you that was just a mistake. She would never say something like that if she knew you were here."

"So she just talks about me like that on a regular basis?"

"Of course not!" Alex lied, avoiding Lila's eyes like the plague. "Olivia is very fond of you, deep down. Err very, very deep down. But I promise you it was just a joke."

Lila sighed as she took Alex's hand and began twisting her engagement ring around, as if she were aching to rip it off her finger. "I do wish you would at least consider finding someone more your social status, Alexandra."

Alex held back a frustrated scream. "I love Olivia, I'm marrying her, and like I said the day I told you I was gay, you're fighting a losing battle if you think I'm gonna leave her because you said so."

Lila threw up her hands. "Fine, fine. I can tell when my opinion isn't going to be valued by my own daughter."

"Good," Alex said, ignoring Lila's glare.

Lila sighed, gently tugging on the ring once more before she let go of her hand and began to look around the room. "You know, Alexandra, no offense I do know an interior decorator up in Albany who would be more then delighted to come down and spruce this room up. Olivia might actually be able to afford him."

"Gee, mom, don't be afraid to tell me what you really think of our house, just spit it out," Alex snapped.

"Oh relax," Lila said as she began to walk over to the closet. "It's a very nice Brownstone; you really can't find these in the city anymore. But really, Alexandra, who uses oak wood as closets anymore? The newest up and coming style is Aster. They're much less likely to attract moths. I'll show you what I mean."

Lila opened the closet door and a stack of papers fell from the top of the closet.

"What's this?" Lila asked, bending over to read one.

"Don't read that!" Alex cried racing over and snatching the paper form Lila's hands.

Lila looked up at her, her eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Who wrote that E-mail, Alexandra?"

"No one," Alex muttered as she gathered the papers in her arms, avoiding her mother's eyes.

"'No one' would say they couldn't wait to see you again, and certainly not at the Waldorf hotel and restaurant," Lila said with a smirk. "A restaurant and hotel far out of a NYPD detective's price range."

"It's nothing! Will you just drop it?" Alex snapped.

"Who wanted to meet with you?" Max asked coming up behind her, trying to read the E-mail over her shoulder.

Alex quickly flipped the top E-mail over so that Max couldn't read it. "For the last time, it's nothing! Will you both just knock it off, already?"

Alex took several deep breaths before looking back at them, clapping her hands together, forcing a smile on her face. "I'm gonna let you two get settled, let you guys take a quick nap before dinner. Which _I_ will oversee the reservation phone call," Alex said with a raised eyebrow to Lila who shrugged, feigning innocence.

"I'm telling you, Alexandra, there must have been a mix up on their end last time."

"I'm sure," Alex said, trying to imitate Lila's angry face and failing miserably, but letting out a breath of relief when it seemed the E-mail was pushed from their minds, at the current moment, anyway.

Alex made a move to leave the room before the sounds of a tiny, almost minuscule bark erupted from one of the suitcases.

"Don't worry, baby, mama's coming!" Lila cooed before going over to the stack of suit cases and grabbing a small pink case with holes on all sides.

Alex's eyes widened as Lila pulled out one of the smallest chiwawa's Alex had ever seen, dressed in a pink cashmere sweater and light pink booties, its fur white and soft, with a tiny pink bow on top of its head.

"What on earth is that?" Alex asked as she looked at the thing she would give a child as a toy.

"This is Martha," Lila cooed, petting the dog on top of the head, her hand almost as big as the dogs head.

"What happened to Fluff-?"

Max cleared his throat loudly, shaking his head frantically.

Alex looked at him in confusion before turning back to Lila, astounded to find tears in her eyes. "Fluffy... Fluffy passed away three weeks ago."

"Oh mom, I'm sorry," Alex said truthfully reaching out to pet Martha. "At least this one is cuter."

But the moment her hand got anywhere near the tiny dog, she began barking frantically and growling as loud as it could at Alex who pulled back her hand at once, glaring down at the dog, and was shocked that it seemed to be glaring back as well, baring it's teeth at the blond.

"Martha doesn't let anyone but your mother touch it."

Max told Alex, holding up his right hand that looked like it was covered in tiny holes Alex knew came from Martha's bite.

Lila took a shuddering breath before wiping her tears away. "At least he went peacefully."

"Or as peacefully one can go after getting hit with a Mac Truck," Max muttered.

Lila's bottom lip began to tremble as she set Martha down who looked up at Lila, an angry look on its miniscule face, and Alex was sure it was demanding to be picked back up. "I, I'm sure that's how he wou, would have wanted to go."

Lila stayed somewhat composed for half a second before the tears began falling.

Max rushed over to her, embracing her fondly just before the hysterical sobs started. "My little Fluffykins!" she cried, the sobs shaking her body. "He was such a good little doggy!"

Max shushed her softly, looking past her towards Alex who motioned out the door.

"I know Olivia's allergic," he said a sigh, "and I apologize from the bottom of my heart, but it was either bring Martha or she wouldn't come. It'll stay in our room and I promise you Olivia won't ever know she's there."

"Why can't it stay in the garage?"

"Your mother is in a very emotional state right now and needs the companionship and it is very insensitive of you to decide for her what her emotional needs are at the moment," Max said, as if it were a well rehearsed line from a play, and Alex was sure that he had been told something similar many times before hand.

"I, it isn't f, fair!" Lila sobbed even harder. "H, he never did anything to that truck!"

"I know, I know," Max whispered, rubbing small circles on her back. "It's gonna be alight, darling."

"H, he was gonna be part of th, the wedding party!"

Alex groaned before she left the room, shaking her head in disbelief, trying to figure out how on earth she would explain to Olivia that her throat may close up at any time just because her mother was an emotional wreck.

She walked into the bedroom where Olivia was looking for something suitable to get dressed in.

Olivia turned around, an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm so sorry, Alex. I didn't even hear-"

"Its fine, Liv," Alex lied with a smile. "Forgive and forget that's my parent's motto."

A relieved smile broke out over Olivia's face. "Really? Lila's not mad at me?"

Alex scoffed feigning disbelief. "Of course not! She loves you, Liv."

At those words, Olivia's smile disappeared. "What's wrong?" she asked dryly.

Alex took a deep breath, deciding that it would be easier to just tell the truth then to wait for Olivia to find out on her own. "Um, Fluffy died."

"That huge monster of a dog? Thank god," Olivia muttered. Alex let out a nervous chuckle, clearing her throat.

"I know, right? Anyway, my mom isn't taking it so well, and she um, she got a new, smaller, hardly noticeable dog. A white haired Chiwawa actually, named Martha."

"Well that's good, I guess. Do you want me to recommend a consoler for grieving?"

"I was actually looking for a recommendation for a good allergist."

"A good what?" Olivia asked sure that what she thought Alex had said couldn't be true. "Why would a good allergen be needed?"

"She might have, you know... brought the new dog."

"So she'll keep it in the garage again," Olivia said with a shrug, "what's the big deal?"

Alex began wringing her hands together, looking down at the ground. "I kind of, maybe, you know... told her it could stay in the house."

Alex!"

"Well what do you want me to do?"

"Oh gee, I don't know! Let me breathe in my own home! Trust me, I would much rather hear your mom crying then not being able to breathe every time I go past their room!"

Alex sighed before she went over to her, her voice lowering considerably. "She's in her room, crying hysterically right now at the mere mention of Fluffy. My mother, the woman who makes Lilith from Cheers look like a clown, is sobbing because of a dead dog. They promise to keep her in their room, not let her out, and I will personally take over all vacuuming and dusting and cleaning in that room for the next six months."

Olivia groaned, flopping herself down on the bed, Alex following.

"And besides," Alex said as she laid down next to Olivia, gently moving the hair away from her face. "A dog in her room will make her so much happier. And didn't we both decide that a happier Lila is better than an angry upset Lila?"

"You mean there's a difference?" Olivia muttered before turning over and facing her, letting out a sigh. "Fine, fine, the football with legs can stay in the house."

Alex let out a squeal of happiness as she hugged Olivia, kissing her on the lips.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Olivia chuckled as she released the kiss and moved the hair away from Alex's face. "Yeah, yeah. If it snaps at me once though, then Toto will be learning to fly, and I can promise you the witch that owns it won't need her broom to fly either."

"It's the friendliest little dog you ever saw," Alex lied, ignoring Olivia's eyes. "You won't have any problems with it."

"Whatever," Olivia sighed before smiling at Alex. "Thank you for telling me in any case and being honest with me about it. I mean you could have lied about it, and it means a lot to me that you would tell and be honest with me."

Alex let out a chuckle, forcing a grin on her lips.

"No problem. Honesty is the best policy, after all."

Alex forced another smile on her lips before her cell phone rang.

Alex quickly picked it up from the stand and looked at the caller ID.

"I got to take this in private."

"Who is it?" Olivia asked as she got off the bed and began searching through the closet trying to find something suitable to wear.

Alex forced a smirk on her face again. "Do you really want to hear the plans of your honey moon surprise?" Alex said with a chuckle as she all but raced out of the room.

Alex flipped open the phone, making sure that Olivia wasn't listening. "What did I say about calling me at home?" Alex muttered softly so that Olivia could not hear her.

"I had to talk to you again," a man's voice said with almost frantic worry.

"I don't care," Alex growled. "She was in the room. What if she picked up the phone? My mother just found our E-mails as well, and if she had actually read one all the way through, it doesn't take an idiot to figure out what's going on between us."

"You promised me you were going to tell Olivia the truth about you and me, about our plans. You swore to me that you would leave her for this."

"I never said I would leave her!"

"You can't have both things, Alex, no matter how much you think you can. You either give her all of your attention, or you give it to me. You can't have it both ways."

"Michael, I can't," Alex pleaded. "I can't hurt her like this. I love her too much."

"If you love her so much, then why not tell her the truth now instead of her finding it out later."

"It's two weeks until the wedding. I can't-"

"She's holding you back, Alex!" Michael shouted and Alex was forced to hold the phone away from her ear. "If you were to just leave her, then you and I could give each other the full attention we deserve! I can take you places that you can't go with Olivia at your side! You've told me a thousand times that you've wanted this all your life!"

"But I've also waited for her all my life."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, and when Michael spoke, it sounded as if he was struggling to keep from shouting. "You can't have both, Alex. No matter how much you think you can, no matter how much you want to, you can't have both, and I told you enough times that I'm not going to share you with her."

"I can't choose between the two though!"  
"Well you're going to have to, or else we're done, Alex."

"No!" Alex pleaded. "No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't go, Michael please!"

The voice on the other line chuckled. "I could never leave you, Alex. You're my diamond in the rough."

"I feel more like a lump of coal," Alex muttered, looking back into the room, watching Olivia get dressed, a sad smile on her lips before turning her attention to the phone.

"Don't think that way about yourself, Alex," Michael told her softly. "I've never met a woman like you at all."

Alex scoffed, but decided she was in no mood to argue with him right now. "Whatever. I've got to go, my parents just drove down from Albany, and Olivia might start getting suspicious."

Michael sighed, and Alex could practically hear his shaking head. "You're making a mistake by being with her. I pray to god you see that and soon."

"She's not a mistake," Alex growled in to the phone, narrowing her eyes at the unseen speaker.

"Whatever. I've got to go in any case as well. Call me later, please?"

"I will when if I get a chance. Good bye, Michael."

"Good bye, and remember what I said, Alex. You can have me, or you can have her, I'm sick of you not giving me your full attention when we're together. I don't want you to think that it's a bad idea whenever we're with one another. You get... distracted, and I don't want to keep reminding you every three seconds not to think about her while we're doing our thing."

Alex bit back a sob and flipped her phone shut, letting the tears roll down her face.

"What the hell have I done?" she thought to herself, her mind not on the brown haired detective she knew loved her more than life itself, but on the man she had just talked to.

Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

I own no one but my own people.

A/N 34 reviews for the first chapter? Y'all seriously, seriously rock out loud! I think that's my personal best. Once again, thanks to SVUrookie for being a kick ass beta :)

Alex and Olivia's Brownstone, June 2nd, 6:47 PM

"Olivia, we've been over this," Alex sighed as she and Olivia looked over the huge catalog their florist had sent over. "We can't have artificial flowers as the centerpieces."

"Why not?" Olivia asked as she flipped through the pages, trying to find something both women liked. "They're cheaper."

"Because it'll look bad, and all the guests will notice that we used fake flowers, not to mention they won't get to grow them anymore when they take them home, and who cares about the cost?"

"I do, Alex," Olivia argued, frowning slightly. "I can't afford to spend fifty thousand dollars on a wedding, or one thousand dollars on flowers."

"But it will look so good."

"Your point?"

"My point," Alex said, withholding a growl, "is that our guests will be expecting real flowers to take home, and when they get to the reception, and it turns out it's just paper and ribbon, they'll be disappointed, and that'll leave us with a bad reputation. Didn't you ever learn these things in Home Ec?"

Olivia scoffed at Alex's ignorance. "Like I actually paid attention to the teacher. Way too many good looking girls in that class to focus on how the seasons should coordinate with your wedding colors."

"Are you sure you weren't a man in another life?" Alex grumbled as she took the book from Olivia.

"Oh relax," Olivia told her, kissing the top of her head. "I was only kidding. How about roses?" she offered.

Alex shook her head. "Not roses. Everyone has roses at their weddings, they'll way too stereotypical and I really don't think it's that original. Plus they'll have to be painted our color unless there's a new light blue rose we haven't heard of yet, and painted flowers just look trashy."

Alex sighed and put her head in her hands. "Two weeks before our wedding and we don't even have our flowers picked out yet."

Olivia rubbed the small of Alex's back. "We'll work something out. And if we can't find anything in time, then I'll just confiscate every light blue and white flower in central park and every roof garden in New York City as evidence."

Despite her momentary annoyance, Alex let a brief smile escape from her lips as they looked over the catalog together.

Alex once again skimmed through the book before she came to a dead stop.

Her eyes widened, her mouth parted, letting her fingers run over the picture as if she could bring them straight out of the book.

"They're beautiful," Alex breathed, entranced in the light blue violets and the white lilies held together by white and light blue silk ribbons.

Olivia looked down and whistled. "Wow, those are pretty. Are they real?"

Alex nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from the display. "They're our colors, it can be part of a package deal, and they even look the flowers engraved on the invitations!"

Olivia rubbed the back of her neck, a hint of nervousness on her face. "They're a little expensive, Alex."

"I know they're a little over budget and we might have to pay extra for two bridal bouquets, but they're so beautiful, Liv! I would kill to have these at our wedding!"

Olivia let out a tiny chuckle at Alex's enthusiasm. "Do you really like them?"

Alex nodded, still unable to turn away from the page.

Olivia groaned as she looked at the dollar sign next to the description for a moment before she sighed, looking back up at Alex who was biting her bottom lip, a look of suspense on her face. "Then those are the ones we're getting."

Alex tore her eyes away from the page and beamed at Olivia, hugging her around the neck.

"Thank you so much!" Alex said as Olivia hugged her back.

"I'll have to remember that all it takes to get you happy is some flowers," Olivia said with a chuckle.

They both broke away from one another as they heard footsteps descending down the stairs.

"What's going on here?" Lila asked as she walked over to the table and looked down at the catalog.

"I just found the perfect set of flowers," Alex said proudly letting Lila look at the page, and it was with great restraint that Olivia didn't close the book and say that it was going to be kept secret until the wedding.

Lila twisted her head from side to side, a look of slight disgust coming over her.

"Alexandra, please tell me that you lost your page and just happened to fall on this one?"

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as Olivia held back a growl.

Lila scoffed as if it was obvious. "Are you serious, Alexandra? Violets and lilies, they'll look absolutely atrocious! Not to mention you could find the same things at Wal-Mart for probably more money."

"That's actually over budget," Olivia told her, narrowing her eyes at Lila who scoffed.

"Maybe if you're planning on picking them out of the community garden they are."

Lila shook her head, snatching the book out from under them. "No, no, no, my daughter will not be getting married with department store flowers."

"They're our colors, and Alex loves them," Olivia informed her as Lila took a seat at the table and began thumbing through it.

She finally landed on something in the way back of the book, and smiled, pointing to a large, gaudy set of pink and white roses with dark gold trim.

"Now, you see? Roses are always in style, and it's even summer colors, not to mention they're dipped in 36 karat gold."

Olivia looked down at them for a moment before her eyes widened and she closed her eyes, pushing the book away from her. "Ten thousand dollars for flowers? Lila, are you out of your mind?"

"To let you marry into this family, I must be," Lila snapped.

Olivia went to stand up before Alex put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

Olivia and Lila never unlocked eyes as Olivia sat back down, the two glowering at one another.

"Mom," Alex said calmly. "First off they're a little bit… over excessive for what we had in mind. I mean the other ones were beautiful, simple, elegant... Plus not to mention that light pink isn't even one of our colors, and Olivia's right. Those are way off budget. We can't afford it."

"You mean she can't afford it, darling," Lila said with a sickly sweet smile. You on the other hand can more than afford them. And I'm willing to bet money that you could get them painted."

"I can afford them!" Olivia lied. "I just think it's completely idiotic to spend that much money on the flowers when neither of us really likes them."

"Olivia, you can't even afford the gum on the bottom of your knock off sneakers."

"I'll show you where those knock off sneakers can be shoved if you want."

"Will both of you knock it off!" Alex snapped, making them both finally turn away from one another to look at Alex who sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Well when we first started looking at flowers, Alex said roses were stereotypical and she didn't like them," Olivia said a smug look on her face as she and Lila looked back at one another. "Sorry, Lila, but we're going with our first choice."

Lila straightened out, looking at Olivia as if she were something stuck on the bottom of her shoe. "Let's just see about that. Alexandra, what do you think is best, darling?"

Alex looked between Olivia and Lila before looking down at the roses, swallowing hard, ignoring the eyes of her lover. "The roses aren't… aren't that bad."

"Alex!"

"So then it's settled!" Lila said cheerfully, taking the catalog away from the two of them. "I'll order them right after I make the dinner reservations."

Lila stood up and walked away, leaving Alex and Olivia together in silence.

"I can't believe you!" Olivia snapped, crossing her arms. "You told me not two minutes ago you didn't want roses, but because Lila wanted them, they were perfect!"

Alex shrugged, still unable to look at her. "What could I have done, Olivia?"

"I don't know, stand up for yourself and say no, we're not getting the roses!"

"It was either agree now, or agree with her later. I just saved us three days worth of arguing."

"And if I had said, hey let's get roses, you would have said no, but because you're too much of a coward to stand up to Lila-"

"I am not afraid to stand up to my mother!" Alex insisted.

"Alexandra, I'm making reservations at this new Indian place I saw in the Times, is that alright?"

"Yeah, mom, that's fine," Alex said, once again looking away from Olivia.

"You don't even like Indian food!" Olivia challenged. "You tried it once and you said it tasted like biting into a jalapeño covered steak with some soggy vegetables!"

"Well, maybe this place will be different," Alex muttered as she got up from the table, Olivia following.

"No, it won't. But you just don't know how to tell your mother no"

"Yes I do."

"That's why it took you thirty seven years to tell her you're gay?"

"Wrong, I didn't even know I was gay until I was fifteen, so it was really only twenty two years! "

Olivia chuckled coldly and shook her head. "It's happening all over again."

"What is?"

"The lies, the keeping secrets. The same things that almost broke us up at Christmas, you're doing it again, Alex."

Alex shook her head. "No it isn't, and I'm not lying about anything. I just want to avoid a fight."

Olivia looked at her for a moment, a dead serious look on her face. "Well you either learn how to want to fight or it won't take me nearly as long to get fed up as it did a few months ago."

Alex watched as Olivia walked away, tears already brewing in the blonde's eyes before her cell rang.

Alex picked it up and groaned softly before she answered. "Hello, Michael."

"What' wrong? You sound upset?" he asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Alex shook her head. "It's nothing. Me and Olivia just had a little fight. It seems to happen a lot when my mother comes to visit, actually."

"Well from what I've heard of your mother, she would absolutely adore me, if you had the bravery to introduce me to them. Have you even told your parents about me yet?"

"God no," Alex chuckled as she sat down at the table. "I mean my mother would love me for being with you, and my dad would… he would hate me and you for doing this and for hurting Olivia."

Michael sighed, and Alex could hear the frustration in his voice when he spoke again. "Do you seem to notice that whenever something wrong comes up, Olivia is always involved? We can't meet because Olivia has the night off from work, we can't go to that restaurant because the owner knows you and Olivia are engaged and she would tell, we can't make any plans to travel because of Olivia. Alex, don't you think your life would be so much easier if you would just leave her?"

"I can't!" Alex cried desperation heavy in her voice. "You don't understand how much I'm in love with her!"

"If you love her so much, then why aren't you telling her? Why are you dragging this out?"

"Because I can't hurt her anymore then I already have."

"You don't think her hearts going to be broken when she finds out, and once again, she is going to find out!" he yelled at her, and Alex bit back a sob.

"I don't want her to hate me for doing this," she said in a shaky whisper.

There was silence on both ends before Michael sighed. "Fine, whatever. Are we still having dinner tonight, or do you and Olivia have plans?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"She's my fiancée."

"And I'm your-"

"Michael!" a female voice was heard yelling in the back ground. "Michael, Julia is here, and she needs help carrying her things in!"

"I need to go," he muttered, his voice low. "I'll talk to you later, Alex."

"Okay. And I don't think I say this enough to you, so I'll say it now so that you know it's true. I lov-," Alex began to say, but a tiny beep told her the call had ended.

Alex flipped the phone shut and put her head down on the table, letting several tears fall down her face.

Three hours later, Olivia was face down under the bed, grumbling to herself as Alex tore through the closet.

"You know," Olivia coughed as she inhaled a large thing of dust. "You would think that just once, when they came to visit everything would be where it was supposed to."

"But this time it's not my shoes," Alex said as she tore through several boxes.

"No you're right, this time its missing earrings," Olivia grumbled as she got up and checked the bed.

Alex ignored her as she rushed over to her night stand and yanked open the drawer, scurrying through the contents.

Olivia groaned as she also checked her nightstand. "Alex, why not just wear a different set of earrings? No one's gonna even notice."

"I would."

"No one else will!"

"Alexandra Cabot, what on earth is taking so long?" Lila called up the steps.

"I can't find my earrings!" Alex yelled back as she pulled out an old wooden box and began thumbing through it.

"Did Olivia give them to you?"

Alex and Olivia looked at one another in confusion before Alex answered. "Yes."

"Then you can buy three pairs of them for five dollars at K-Mart, now let's go!"

Olivia narrowed her eyes at the door before turning to Alex, who suddenly was sure that the earrings were deep in the little box.

"You're just gonna let her talk to me like that?" Olivia asked a twinge of pain in her voice. "Alex, I gave you those earrings for your birthday, and I can promise you they cost a hell of a lot more than anything you could find at a department store."

"I know, I'm sorry, I'll talk to her," Alex said hurriedly, as she pulled out the drawer and dumped the contents on the bed.

"I'm sure you will," Olivia muttered, as she went over to the closet.

Alex shifted through the contents a little more before she let out a triumphant cry. "Got um!" she exclaimed holding up the golden bar with three small diamonds in it and putting them in her ears.

"Great," Olivia mumbled as she and Alex left the bedroom.

The two went down the stairs and into the living room where Max and Lila were waiting.

"Finally!" Lila cried, exasperated. "You would think one might have their things together _before_ we're almost late for dinner."

"Sorry," Alex told her, a blush appearing on her cheek as she and Olivia grabbed their coats.

Lila looked up and down Olivia's outfit, grimacing some. "Well, Olivia… the most I can say is at least you're consistent when it comes to your attire. The folks at the Salvation Army formal collection must love you to bits."

Olivia growled at her as Lila turned her attention to Alex, immediately drawn to her earrings. "I see you found the earrings," Lila said, looking at them as if a pair of spiders had attached themselves to Alex's ears. "I must say, Olivia, the fact that you found realistic lookinggold paint to cover the rust on the metal is rather impressive," Lila said in fake awe.

"Yes, and the fact that you're wearing a thirty dollar dress that came from Pennys and trying to pass it off by stapling a Chanel tag to it and letting the tag hang out is even more impressive," Olivia told her, smirking as Lila blushed furiously, stuffing the tag back inside the dress.

Olivia took Alex's coat from her and held it out for her, unable to ignore the shocked gasp made by Lila as Alex put her arms in.

"Really, Alexandra, must you announce it to the whole world!" she snapped quietly, as if there were people listening inside the house. "I understand and accept what you are, but do you have to let everyone know that you're… you know!"

"It's alright Lila, you can say the word without it infecting you," Olivia grumbled as she pulled on her own coat.

"I think it's very sweet and considerate," Max said with a smile towards Olivia. "You really don't see much chivalry around today, and I think it's splendid that Alex has found someone who has some old fashioned morals."

Olivia managed a half hearted smile at Max for defending her as Lila scoffed. "Oh please, Max, they're about as new aged as you can get. Have you two even found a church willing to marry you two?"

Alex and Olivia looked at one another for a moment before Alex cleared her throat turning back to Lila, a small sweat breaking out. "Um… we're not getting married in a church."

"And on that note, I say we all get in the car and go get something to eat!" Max offered hastily, Olivia nodding frantically in agreement.

Lila stood frozen, looking at Alex as if she had just spit in her face. "You what?" Lila whispered softly, and all three were surprised to hear tears in her voice.

"Mom, can we please talk about this later," Alex pleaded, unable to look at her. "Let's just go get some dinner, and we can all sit down later and talk about this."

"Calmly," Max added, as he gently placed his hands on Lila's shoulders.

Lila still remained still as Alex looked down at the floor. "How could you do this to me, Alexandra?"

"I'm not doing anything to you, mom," Alex told her, and was surprised to hear tears in her own voice as well.

"All my life I wanted you to have a big church wedding, you and your husband joined together by a man of God in a house of worship, and now you're telling me you're not going to?"

Lila quickly began rummaging through her purse and pulled out a white handkerchief and began dabbing her eyes with it.

"I'm not getting a son in law, I'm not getting biological grandchildren, I'm not getting someone who's going to be able to support you and give you the life you deserve."

"Mom, stop," Alex pleaded, looking over at a hurt Olivia.

"And now you're not even letting me have your wedding in a church. Alexandra, whatever I did to you to make you not want that, I'm sorry. But please, just let me have this one thing."

Olivia groaned loudly, running a hand through her hair. "I'm the one who doesn't want to get married in a church, not Alex."

Lila turned towards her, her eyes narrowed so much, Olivia thought they were closed. "You what?"

Olivia took a deep breath before she spoke. "I've never been religious, I've never supported the church, and I don't like the thought of getting married in a system where it says it's wrong for us to be together."

Lila scoffed, crossing her arms. "So you're the one who doesn't want it, not Alexandra."

Olivia nodded. "I'm sorry, Lila. I just don't believe in the church or the bible or Go-"

"Do not finish that statement while I am in ear shot!" Lila snapped, her eyes widening to almost frightening proportions before turning back to Alex. "Alexandra Rosalie Cabot, I understand that you believe there is something about Olivia that you might like. However, if she denies you this opportunity to be married under Gods eyes, then do not expect either me or your father-"

"Can you just leave me out of this?" Max pleaded, gaining a furious glare from Lila before turning back to Alex.

"Like I said, either you get married in a Christian church, or do not expect me or your father to come to the wedding. Let's go, Max, _now_!"

And with that, Lila stormed past the three of them and out the door, slamming it behind her.

Max sighed and offered a weak chuckle before he too left the house.

Olivia looked at Alex for a moment who was hastily wiping away the tears. "I'll ask Elliot to ask his priest if he performs same sex marriages," she muttered.

Alex let out a sob mixed with a chuckle before shaking her head. "I think my mother would rather me get married in Vegas then get married in the Catholic Church. We're Protestant."

"There's a difference?" Olivia asked with a groan.

Alex nodded, a teary smile playing on her face. "I'll take care of getting the church."

Olivia sighed before nodding. "God the things I do to make you happy."

"But you love me, so it's worth it," Alex said with a grin.

Olivia chuckled. "Well you are kind of cute, you know, for a church girl."

Alex grinned as Olivia leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the lips before she pulled away.

"Does this mean I have to eat the little tiny crackers before the ceremony?" Olivia asked as she opened the door for Alex.

"Are you baptized?"

Olivia scoffed in disbelief as she shut the door behind them. "Like my mother would ever go in a church. The place would have probably burned to the ground if she stepped foot in the courtyard."

A sad smile came over Olivia's face. "Besides, she always told me that if you thought there was some higher being constantly judging and punishing everyone who did bad things, then when bad things happened to good people; it would be harder to just accept it and think of it as bad luck."

Olivia quickly wiped the tears that had gathered in her eyes while Alex smiled at her.

"I would have liked to have met your mom before she died. She sounds like she was really smart."

Olivia nodded in agreement. "She was… for the most part."

Olivia took a shuddering breath before forcing a smile on her lips. "Shall we get going?"

Alex nodded before the two went to the car where Max and Lila were quietly arguing.

"I'm not driving with her," they heard Lila hiss.

"Lila, be reasonable," Max pleaded softly. "We deal with politicians and lawyers on a regular basis, how many of them go to church every week?"

"How many of them are marrying my one and only child? I'm not riding in a car with that woman!"

Olivia took a deep breath, closing her eyes before approaching her. "I'm sorry for offending you by saying what I said before, about your religion and your god."

Lila crossed her arms, looking at Olivia as if she were dirt. "Go on."

Alex held her hand, and Olivia took another breath before continuing. "We've decided that we're going to be getting married in a church. I mean, it obviously means a lot to you to do it, and it doesn't really matter to me, so… We'll make the arraignments tomorrow and find a church and a priest who'll marry us, okay?"

Lila's face softened for the smallest moment in time before it turned stone cold hard again. "A poor detective I can handle. Someone who has the fashion and jewelry sense of a twelve year old girl, I can accept. A liberal Democrat, I'm working on it, but someone who doesn't even believe in God, Alexandra?"

"Don't worry about my feelings, I'm not offended," Olivia said sharply.

"Funny, it was meant to be an insult," Lila told her before returning back to Alex.

"She was just raised different, there's nothing wrong with it," Alex said softly.

Lila shook her head in despair. "You would think the mother would have taken some form of responsibility and taken her to church at least once."

"My mother didn't believe in any of that either," Olivia growled, and Alex put a hand on her shoulders incase she needed restraining.

Lila scoffed in disbelief. "And you wonder why you don't know the man who fathered you. She probably didn't know it was wrong to sleep with who knows how many nameless men!"

"Her religion had nothing to do with that!" Olivia cried, beginning to storm up to Lila as Alex got in front of her and began to attempt to push her back, tears in the detective's eyes as she struggled to get past Alex. "You don't know anything about her! You have no right to talk about her!"

"Olivia, calm down," Max pleaded as he stepped in front of Lila who clung to him, an almost frightened look in her eye.

Olivia glared furiously at Lila before wrenching out of Alex's hold, and Max forced Lila back even more.

Olivia turned to Alex, breathing heavily. "I'm not riding with her. They can take their own damn car!"

"I wouldn't want to be caught riding in your scrap metal heap anyway!" Lila shot back.

"Lillian, now is not a good time," Max grumbled, and Alex was almost shocked, knowing the only time he used her mother's full name was when he was exceedingly angry with her.

Lila must have known it as well, because she at once shut her mouth and instead just continued to glare at Olivia.

"Olivia, come on, Alex pleaded softly. "Why don't you just calm down, and-"

"Alex, this is how I'm going to get calm," she muttered. "I am not going to ride with her and chance getting into an accident."

Alex sighed before she turned to her parents. "Fine, we'll take separate cars."

"The best idea you've had in a while," Lila said, ignoring Max's annoyed look as she got out from behind him.

Lila and Max went to one car while Olivia went to her the other.

"Let's go, Alex," Olivia spoke at the same time that Lila said, "come along, Alexandra."

Alex looked between the two cars and groaned.

"Alexandra, we're going to be late," Lila said a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Alex looked between the two of them before she sighed, making her way over to her parents car.

"Now there's a surprise," she heard Olivia mutter, shaking her head in disbelief.

"We'll meet you at the restaurant," Alex said apologetically.

"Whatever. I need to put gas in anyway," Olivia grumbled before getting in the car, slamming the door shut.

"Now see," Lila said with a smile on her lips. "I just made the ride there much more pleasant."

Alex turned to look at her for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief.

"What? What did I say?"

"Nothing!" Alex snapped as she got in the back seat, slamming her door shut as well. "Let's just go!"

Max also got in the car and began to drive away, looking in the rear view mirror at Olivia.

"Why is she driving so slow?" Lila asked as she too looked in the mirror. "Last time we drove with her she drove like a maniac."

"I think the whole almost losing her life in a car accident thing kind of made her a little bit more cautious on the road," Alex answered, looking out the window.

"Well that's one thing I don't have to worry about anymore. I swore, the woman had never even heard of brakes when we came up here last time," Lila scoffed as she pulled down the mirror and began to fix her makeup.

Alex stayed silent and continued to look out the window, hating herself for choosing her parents.

Thirty minutes later, they pulled up in front of the restaurant where a valet was waiting to take their car.

"No scratches on the car, please," Lila said with a snooty accent as she handed the young valet a dollar bill.

He looked down at the dollar before looking back up at her and Alex could see the force behind the smile. "No problem, mam, I'll be sure to return the car in the same shape as before."

Max handed him the keys as the valet handed him a slip of paper before he got in and sped off, leaving a trail of black behind him.

"Should we wait for Olivia?" Alex asked looking around at the cars that were pulling up, none of them containing her lover.

"She'll know where to find us. I just hope the woman doesn't try to attack the poor boy that ends up parking her car. She'll probably think he's stealing it."

Alex glowered at Lila for a moment before another car pulled up right in front of them, and Alex gasped, turning away from the driver.

"Please for the love of all that is good and holy let it not be him."

The driver got out of the car and threw his keys to the valet. "I am going to be inspecting every miniscule inch of that car when I have it returned to me," the man snapped harshly at the valet.

"Of course sir, I promise to have it back to you in the same condition I found it in."

"Good. Or else I know people who can have you taken off government assistance in a heartbeat."

"I'm not on assis-"

"Alexandra Cabot, is that you?" the man interrupted, roughly pushing by the valet.

Alex slowly turned around in slow motion and had to bite back a scream as she saw the voice walk closer.

"Alexandra it's me," the man said, an almost cocky smile on his face, and Alex had to hold back a glare.

"What are you doing here?"

"Believe it or not, I had a meeting here with someone," he said smugly. "However as I was pulling in, they called to cancel. But I never turn down good Indian food. Lovely to see you, dear," he said as he kissed her on both cheeks.

"Alexandra, do you know this man?" Lila asked.

Alex sighed and nodded biting back a scream of frustration once more. "Mom, dad. This is my very good friend… Michael Warren."

"Michael Warren?" Lila gasped her voice barely above a whisper, looking at the man with pure admiration in his eyes. _"The _Michael Warren? The same Michael Warren who helped Giuliani, Dick Morris, and Rick Lazio run for office and vowed to squash any Democrat who gets within a hundred miles of him or his candidates? Who was almost handpicked by McCain to help him with his presidential election?"

Michael chuckled, smoothing down his graying hair, beaming at her. "One in the same. And you must be Alexandra's parents. I've heard so much about the both of you," he said with a smile.

Lila let out a tiny squeak of disbelief, her eyes widening as she looked from Alex who was blushing furiously. "Alexandra, why didn't you tell us you knew him? Much less that you are on a first name basis with him?"

Alex shrugged, still looking down at the ground.

Michael cleared his throat. "I know this is not the way Alexandra would have wanted me to tell you about this, but I'm actually helping her run for New York State Senate."

Lila let out a cry of joy and hugged Alex around the neck, forcing the stunned Alex to take several steps back so that they wouldn't fall.

"Darling, why on earth didn't you tell us you were running?" Lila asked as she pulled away, a true huge beaming smile on her face for the first time since Alex could remember.

"Because right now I'm just thinking about it. It's not like I'll be putting up posters anytime soon," Alex told them, glaring furiously at Michael.

"So that's what the E-mail was talking about," Lila said with a grin. "You were just meeting at the restaurant. For a moment I thought that you might be having an affair."

It was with an effort that Alex didn't shudder in disgust. "You mean me and Michael have an affair? Mom, are you serious?"

He let out a loud laugh, making the fat in his stomach jiggle and the wrinkles around his eyes disappear some. "Me have an affair? With Alexandra? Oh good heavens, no! I mean, I'm almost flattered that you would think that after you've taken one look at me."

"Yes, I can see quite clearly now that she wouldn't be interested in someone like you. No offense!" she said almost desperately. "It's just, you're… well."

"Fifty seven and counting," he said with another chuckle. "And no offense taken, Ms Cabot."

"Please call me Lila," she said with another smile before motioning to Max who didn't looked nearly as thrilled to be talking to him as Lila did. "This is my husband Max."

"We've met," Max said rather coldly with a curt nod. "Warren."

Michael turned to look at Max and his grin faltered some. "Cabot."

"You two know one another?" Lila asked in confusion looking between the two men who were sending death glares their way.

"I offered to help him get in big with some very politically influential people and he turned me down because of our… mutual agreements upon certain topics. Really, Cabot, I have no idea how you can call yourself a Republican. But anyway low and behold, he was fired from the house two years later," Michael said with a smirk.

"I was not fired, first off. I actually had a very large, landslide vote to keep me in the house," Max said with a smug smile. "But Alex was a newborn, and serving in the house would make me miss too much of her, so I voluntarily went back to law. And in any case, had I wanted to move up the ladder, I would choose someone with a little less conservative views to help me in my campaign," Max said dryly. "In fact, I'm wondering what on earth you're doing helping Alex run, when you must know about her-"

"Little tiny secret that we don't want to discuss out in the open with potential voters around to hear it," Michael said, a large fake smile plastered on his face.

Max nodded in understanding, crossing his arms. "So that's the game? You're just going to sweep that 'little tiny secret' under the rug? I don't know if I'm more upset at Alex for allowing this or at you for suggesting it."

Alex looked down at the ground once more, her face red hot, unable to look at her father.

"Well, Max, it does make sense that Alex's little secret should be hidden," Lila offered. "There has never been someone who openly… has that condition in the senate."

"Condition?" both Max and Alex almost yelled at the same time.

Lila seemed to ignore both outbursts. "If Alexandra is going to be running for office, all four of us know that her condition, along with the fact that she is with someone who is not afraid of making her condition public, and is much more likely to announce to the voters that her and Alex share the same condition. It will ruin her chances of ever getting voted in. Once you have the job secure and people realize how good a job she'll do then bring it up. I agree with Michael however, and I think that having the two of them lie low for the time being."

Max shook his head in disbelief once more. "Lila, I can't believe you're suggesting our daughter hides who she is because of an election, and especially when it's this idi-

Lila cleared her throat loudly, interrupting him. "Why don't we talk about this inside and get something to eat?"

"But I thought we were going to wait for Oliv-"Alex began, but was quickly interrupted.

"Oliver, yes, wonderful fellow!" Michael said a little loudly with another fake laugh. "And I must say, _he_ is quite the catch for a woman such as you, Alexandra. Now what do you say we go inside where they at least have air conditioning. It's hotter than a Democrats bedroom out here."

He all but pushed Alex into the restaurant.

Max looked at Lila who had gotten out her cell phone.

"Are you coming?"

"I'll be along in a moment, dear, just go in and start without me."

Max looked confused for a moment before he also went inside the restaurant.

It rang three times before someone picked up.

"Benson," Olivia answered and Lila took a deep breath before talking, making sure Alex or Max wasn't around before she spoke, using her most pathetic and frightened voice.

"Oh, Olivia, thank heavens I've reached you!"

"Is everything alright?" Olivia asked a note of panic in her voice.

"No! Oh I can't believe my Alexandra would do this!"

"Is she okay?"

"Olivia, please bear in mind that while I may not be all that fond of you, there is one thing I cannot stand in any relationship. Something I have preached to Alexandra for a very long time that it is not only wrong, but morally repugnant."

"What?"

"I do not know how certain I am, or if I'm wrong. But just as we were about to go into the restaurant, another man pulled up. He and Alexandra began talking, and they told us to go inside. Me and Max obliged, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw them… Oh god, I'm sorry, Olivia, I saw them kiss."

There was silence on the other line for a moment before she spoke. "They kissed? Like, on the lips kiss?"

"It looked rather intimate, and they walked in holding hands, and to tell you that we had car trouble and not to come. She didn't want you hurt by you seeing this."

"You're lying," Olivia said coldly. "I know Alex, she wouldn't do that! What the hell are you playing at, Lila!"

"I'm not playing at anything, Olivia. But she explained to us that she just wasn't sure anymore about her sexual preference. That she had never had these feelings for the opposite sex before, and was just too confused right now."

There was silence once more on the other end of the line, and when Olivia finally did spoke, Lila was shocked to hear the tears in her voice.

"Don't tell her I know."

Leaving Lila stunned and unable to talk, Olivia hung up the phone.

Lila stood there for a moment before she took a deep breath, the guilt of what she had just done toying with her.

"It's for her career. I did the right thing," Lila told herself, not believing a word of it.

Please Review


	3. Chapter 3

I own no one but my own people.

A/N I got a twitter! Got the idea from someone else on here that has a twitter and uses it for like her fanfiction account and updates and things like that. So check it out if you're interested. Its twitter (dot) com/bellatrix_w_89

And guess who else got her own twitter? My favorite OC and yours… Ms. Lila Verona Cabot! Check out her own blog at twitter (dot) com/lilacabot.

Thanks to SVUrookie for betaing.

"So then I say, 'petty soon fried chicken and malt liquor will be mandatory school lunches'!"

Michael let out an outrageous laugh while Lila let out a clearly forced laugh and Max and Alex sat in stunned silence.

"And you wonder why you were never elected into anything?" Max muttered as he took another sip of wine.

Michaels laugh was cut short as he cleared his throat and straightened out his tie. "Well forgive me, but this country is being run into the ground by that man. I told everyone not to vote for him, but did they listen to me? Not a chance in the world. After all, straight white men are the ones who founded it and made it what it is today, so why listen to us?"

"It was actually the Native Americans who crossed over during the ice age and founded it," Max replied coldly. "Then came the Aztecs, Mayans, and other natives, then the Spanish conquistadors, then Spain explorers, after them was the Vikings, and then finally the British, so actually, Caucasians were the last to settle here."

Michael glowered at him temporarily before he sat up straighter. "I'll have you know, if it wasn't for the British, this country would have nothing but raging savages roaming the lands in loin cloths with spears and bow and arrows."

"Good lord, Warren, how ignorant can you be?" Max snapped.

"I'll have you know, Cabot, that-"

Lila cleared her throat loudly interrupting him. "Gentlemen, please let's be a little more civil."

They both glared at one another before turning away, thinking rather uncivil thoughts about the other.

A smile came over Lila's face before turning to Alex who had her cell phone out once more.

"For heaven's sake, Alexandra, put your phone away!" she snapped quietly. "You've had that blasted thing out for a half hour now!"

Alex shook her head as she once again checked her inbox and recent calls. "Why wouldn't she call and say she was going to be late, much less a half hour late? Do you think something happened?" Alex asked a hint of panic in her voice.

"I'm sure she's fine," Lila assured her as she took another sip of wine, suddenly very interested in the decorations on the ceiling. "She probably just had car trouble. Although, if she's this late to just dinner, imagine how late she'll be at your wedding."

"Mom, knock it off," Alex grumbled as she put the phone away in her purse, making it the highest volume it would go. "I love h-"

"Let's watch our phrasing, shall we?" Michael interrupted with a fake chuckle. "Once again, don't want any over accidental overhearence."

Alex glowered at him but said nothing.

She knew his reputation when she got in league with him; she knew his thoughts and beliefs on various topics, she knew the history he had with her father, and she knew that if she hadn't been a high profile lawyer for the state, he would have ate her and everything she loved and felt.

But she also knew he was one of the best campaign managers out there, that he had helped many a now famous politician get their start, that his ruthlessness and power would be just what she needed to get by in the political world of mainly straight men.

Alex was about to reach into her bag when she heard her mother gasp.

Alex looked up and smiled as Olivia came in the door.

She was about to get up and greet her but she soon saw the look of determination in her face, and she sat back down.

Olivia all but stormed up to them, walking around the table to Alex.

"Liv," she began a hint of fear and confusion in her voice. "Are you-"

Olivia didn't let her finish as she leaned next to her. "I need to talk to you in private, now," Olivia whispered to her.

Alex looked at her in confusion for a moment before she got up, pushing her chair away.

"I'll be right back," she told the table as Olivia practically dragged her away from the table.

"Who in the name of Richard Nixon was that?" Michael asked as he watched the two leave.

Lila shrugged as she downed the rest of her glass of wine. "I have absolutely no idea."

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Alex asked as Olivia opened the bathroom door and dragged her inside.

Olivia quickly glanced around the small porcelain room before she turned on Alex, and it was all that Alex had to not flinch away from Olivia's scowl.

"I want that lying bitch out of my house tonight. She's not coming not the wedding, and she's not gonna help plan any more of it!"

Alex looked at her in utter confusion. "Liv, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about that woman you call your mother! No offense, Alex, but she's nothing but a liar."

Alex withheld a glare, reminding herself that Lila had probably said a lot worse behind Olivia's back.

"What did she do this time?"

Olivia crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Alex, as if she were the one who had lied to her. "She called me up about twenty minutes ago and told me that some guy had pulled up and that you two-"

Alex's eyes widened to almost frightening proportions. "She told you about me and Michael?"

Olivia stopped mid sentence. "Who's Michael?"

Alex groaned into her hands, wanting nothing more than to take back what she had just said.

"Alex," Olivia repeated a lot more fierce now. "Who's Michael?"

Alex forced a nervous chuckle and began to wring her shaking hands together. "He's… a friend."

Olivia glowered at her and took a step forward, making Alex back up several steps. "What kind of a friend?"

"Um… a very close friend?"

Olivia looked at her in complete disbelief, and Alex was surprised to hear the tears in her voice. "After all the shit we've been through, after everything that happened to us last Christmas, how… how could you do this to me, Alex?"

"I'm sorry, Olivia, I didn't know you would take it this bad."

Olivia let out a mock laugh, not even bothering to wipe the tears away. "Oh you're right. I should over the moon to hear this! Why would you think that I would be okay with this?"

Alex looked at her in slight confusion. She knew Olivia would be upset, but not to this extent.

"Olivia, will you calm down? I know you're upset, but it's just, I didn't want to tell you when you had all this wedding stuff going on. I was gonna tell you after the wedding, I swear it."

This time, it was Olivia who looked utterly flustered. "You were gonna tell me?"

Alex nodded. "Of course I was, Liv. I mean it's not like I could keep it a secret for long, especially when the news gets a hold of it."

Olivia took several steps back, blinking her eyes in confusion. "Alex, what are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked, evidently confused as well.

"I'm talking about the fact that Lila just called me up and said that you met with some man and told them you were cheating on me."

It took several moments to wrap her mind around what Olivia had just said. "You… you think I'm cheating on you?"

"Well not at the moment, but five seconds ago that was looking like a good option. Now I'm just trying to figure out what secret I made you unknowingly confess."

Alex couldn't help but laugh, both at her own stupidity and Lila's. "Olivia, I'm not cheating on you, much less with a guy."

"So you're not cheating?"

Alex shook her head. "No, Olivia, I swear to god I'm not cheating on you."

Olivia let out a relieved laugh, her grin taking up her face before throwing her arms around Alex. "I knew she was lying! I'm sorry for even a second I doubted you!"

Alex let out a relieved breath as she hugged Olivia back. "It's fine, at least now I can tell you the other thing without you flipping out."

Alex felt Olivia's hold on her slacken. "What other thing?"

"Oh it's nothing, just something small and insignificant."

Olivia pulled away from her, looking completley confused once more. "Alex, it can't be that small and insignificant if you reacted like that. And you never did tell me who Michael was by the way."

Alex looked down at the white tile floor, clearing her throat loudly.

"Like I said, he's just a friend."

"Well why were you so concerned about the fact that Lila told me about him?"

Alex shrugged, forcing a smile she knew Olivia could see right past. "It's nothing, Liv. Just… it's nothing."

"You're doing it again!" Olivia growled.

"Doing what?"

"Lying to me!"

"I told you he was just a friend."

"Okay, tell me how you know him," Olivia countered, crossing her arms.

Alex shrugged, looking down at the tile floor once again. "From… work."

Alex dared to look back up at Olivia but then quickly turned her gaze downward seeing the look on Olivia's face.

"So you're not going to tell me how you know him?"

"Olivia, please understand-"

Olivia raised one hand and stopped her from continuing. "Just… leave me alone right now, okay?"

Alex watched as Olivia exited the bathroom, in momentary shock before she followed, quickly catching up to her.

"I'm sorry," Alex told her. "Liv, I didn't mean to lie to you."

"Yet you have absolutely no problem doing it every time your moths is around," she grumbled.

Alex got in front of her, vaguely aware they had caught some of the eyes of the other diners. "Olivia, please don't leave," Alex pleaded, a ping of desperation in her soft voice. "Just come sit down and have a nice meal with us, and I'll-." Alex took a deep breath before finishing her sentence. "I'll tell you everything over dinner, okay? And I promise to talk to Lila after dinner, okay?"

"No lies?"

"No lies," Alex promised taking Olivia's hand in hers and smiling at the detective.

Olivia sighed and shook her head. "You're a real pain sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you think I'm a cute pain, so it all works out wonderfully."

Olivia chuckled before reaching in and giving Alex a quick innocent kiss on the lips. "I guess you are sort of cute."

Alex chuckled before Olivia reached down and grabbed her hand before walking back to the table where Lila was looking scandalized, ignoring Olivia's suddenly harsh glare towards her.

"Alexandra Rosalie Cabot," Lila hissed her voice so low Alex almost had to strain to listen as the two sat down at the table, "I cannot believe what I just witnessed! Oh god, when Fox news gets a hold of that!" Lila groaned into her hands, shaking her head. "We'll never hear the end of it!"

"Trust me, Lila, I'll be sure to take care of it," Michael promised, glaring furiously at Olivia, both missing the suddenly worried look on Alex's face.

"No one is getting a hold of anything. Now why don't we all just take a few deep breaths and calm down, okay?" Max pleaded, looking between Lila and Michael.

Olivia looked between Lila and Michael, evidently confused at the conversation. "Fox news?"

"You know the big important news channel that actually has the correct frame of mind while reporting the news. But let me guess, you only watch MSNBC, right?" Michael shook his head in disgust. "I swear to God, you bleeding heart liberals are ruining this country."

"Okay first off, who the hell are you?"

Michael straightened out in his chair, looking at Olivia like she was an insect who should be squashed quickly. "I'm _The_ Michael G. Warren."

Olivia looked at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to know that name?"

Michael scoffed, trying to look like he was clearly hurt at Olivia's ignorance. "I am not only the man who is going to make this woman's dreams come true," he said nodding over at Alex. "But I am one of the most influential and powerful campaign managers in New York. And any true, red blooded American should know that, but when you kiss random women in public-"

"She's my fiancée, and what do you mean make her dreams come true?"

Michael's eyes widened as he turned to Alex. "This is the woman you've told me so much about? This is Olivia Benson?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, she's-"

"You promised me that she wouldn't act like that in public! Do you know how much time and money I'm going to have to spend to get this covered up? Alexandra, her and her behavior is the same kind of thing that is going to ruin you!"

"Act like what?" Olivia said, her voice becoming more flustered every second. "Alex, what is he talking about?"

She turned to Alex who was also now very interested in the table cloth as much as Lila had been.

"Alex, what is your mother and this idiot talking about? And why the hell is this idiot even sitting with us?"

"Alexandra's running for state senate!" Lila declared before Alex could talk.

Olivia's eyes widened as she turned back to Alex, her mouth open several inches. "Alex, what is she talking about?" she demanded once more.

Alex looked down, slowly stirring her drink. "I sort of, kind of… decided to run for the senate. "

"Yeah I figured that part out when your mother said you were running for senate," Olivia snapped. "But what I can't figure out is why I've had to hear it from her instead of you."

"Because I didn't want to tell you just yet."

Olivia's eyes widened in shock before they narrowed in anger. "So this is what you were talking about. When were you planning on telling me, Alex? When we're packing up all of our stuff up and move to Albany or Washington or where ever else you have to live?"

"No," Alex told her, taking her hands in hers, but Olivia quickly wrenched them away. "It's just with all this wedding stuff going on, I didn't want you to get worried about all this."

"How thoughtful," Olivia spat, not believing a word of it. "Why wouldn't a huge major decision like this be any of my business?"

"It is," Alex pleaded. "But I was just trying to-"

"Keep me in the dark so that I couldn't 'ruin' you."

Alex shook her head. "Olivia, that's not true, I swear it. I just… there's never been an openly gay person in the senate and I know that you really don't care about, you know, showing public displays of affection."

Olivia looked at her for a moment; forcing the tears she knew was coming to be held at bay. "So you basically want me to lie about who I am for you, again?"

"We were thinking more like just staying away from her at any and all costs," Michael said seriously, gaining a glare from Alex.

"Right now that sounds like a hell of an idea," Olivia growled as he got up from the table and stormed away.

"Olivia!" Alex called, running after her, much to the dislike of Lila and Michael.

Michael cleared his throat, taking a sip of his wine. "I think that went well."

Meanwhile outside, Olivia waited impatiently for her car as Alex came up next to her.

"I'm sorry," Alex pleaded, Olivia ignoring her. "Olivia, I swear to god I was going to tell you!"

"Just leave me alone," Olivia muttered.

"No, and you want to know why? Because I love you, and I hate seeing you hurt."

"Then why didn't you tell me, Alex?" Olivia cried, unable to hide the tears in her voice. "I would have supported it a hundred percent if you had just talked to me about it!"

"Really?" Alex said, her voice somewhat surprised. "I thought you would have been, you know, against leaving Manhattan."

"I would have, but that's what a marriage is, Alex! We both compromise for one another! Maybe you could have commuted the three hours to Albany every day, or maybe I commute every day to Manhattan, or I get a new job up there, or whatever we would have worked out, but yes I would have supported it! I know you want to get higher up on the food chain, I've known that since we first met."

"If you would have supported it, then why are you making such a big deal out of it," Alex asked crossing her arms, sure that she had gotten Olivia caught in a lie.

"Because you didn't tell me, and I had to hear it from your mother, one of the few people in this world who I cannot stand, and some dick who thinks he's the second coming of Nixon! Okay, we are going to be married in two weeks, and I have to hear about something this huge from some political bureaucratic ass and Lila! Not only that, but I get to find out that the same bureaucratic ass wants us to hide what we are because of the voters!"

Despite the intense situation, Alex felt a small smile tug on her lips. "We're not breaking up?"

Olivia turned to her and sighed. "No. I love you, Alex. I'm pissed off as hell right now, but that doesn't mean I don't want to get married. But what the hell are you doing with that jerk anyway? There's a lot more managers who would like to take you on.

"He really is one of the best, Liv. And he said that I had potential to be a great politician, and if I just, you know, kind of hid our relationship from the public, then he would help me."

"So he's pretty much telling you not to get married to me, right?" Olivia snapped.

"No! Well... kind of, but I'm not listening to him, obviously!" Alex said with a weak chuckle. "He's just been telling me to, you know, hide our marriage and not to speak of it," she muttered, every word proving her disfavor as much as the last."

Olivia simply looked at her for a moment before the valet pulled up with her car.

"I didn't say I was gonna follow his advice!" Alex protested as Olivia handed the valet a ten dollar bill and got in her car, slamming the door shut. "I said I was sorry!"

But her words went unheard as Olivia drove off into the night.

Alex groaned loudly and ran a hand through her blond locks, looking after Olivia's car.

"I still don't understand why she's mad at you," Lila said with a scoff as she and Max came out of the restaurant. "If you want to make something of yourself, then I don't see why she would be so upset."

"Because Alex kept it from her," Max interrupted, "If Alex had just told her the truth, then it would be a different story completely."

Alex turned from Lila to look at Max. "You're taking her side?"

Max nodded a stern look on his usually kind face. "Yes, because first off, there was no way I would have ever done something that big before talking to your mother about it. Every time I ran for something or something that had to do with my career, I talked to her before I contacted anyone else, including a campaign manager. Much less a campaign manager who would hate everything about me. What are you even doing talking to him, Alex? Michael Wallace hates anything that's not rich, white, Christian, republican, and straight; and in my experience, four out of five doesn't cut it with him."

"He's the best," Alex repeated, that reason sounding a lot less good then before. "I know he's a jerk, and I know yours and his history, but he will be able to get me in touch with a lot of higher up people."

Alex looked down at the ground and chuckled sadly. "I guess that doesn't matter much when he would normally hate you."

"Now really, Alexandra, don't be so disheartened!" Lila told her, trying to seem sympathetic. "Think of it this way, even if he doesn't like Olivia, or your lifestyle, he's still gonna be able to help you so much in the long run."

"Mom, do me a favor," Alex said, rubbing her temples, trying to get rid of the headache that had come on fast. "Go back inside and tell Michael that I'm gonna call him tomorrow and that I'm sorry."

"Of course, Alexandra."

Lila went back inside, leaving Max alone with Alex.

"You know-"Max began, but Alex put a hand up to stop him.

"Don't say it!" Alex interrupted, but Max had no intentions of listening to her daughter.

"You're going to lose her again. This is just like last time we came up. You keep up the lies, and eventually she will leave you, Alex, and I honestly wouldn't blame her."

"It's not like what I said was a surprise or anything!" Alex cried, desperate for someone to understand. "She knows how much harder it'll be for me to get elected if I'm openly gay, and she knows how long I've wanted this!"

"Then why did you say yes to her? You could have just said no and continue to date, and you two being together never would be on public record."

Alex sighed and looked down at the ground. "Because I love her, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

"But you love your job more," Max said softly, taking Alex's hand in his. "Darling, I don't want to see you hurt, and trust me, you losing her _will _hurt you. More so then losing some election will."

Alex sniffed and hastily wiped the tears away as Max gently moved the hair away from her face.

"Alex, listen to me," he pleaded gently. "Olivia doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve the lies, or saying that she has to hide her marriage with you because of your political aspirations."

"Why does this have to be so complicated?" Alex whispered, more tears falling down her face.

"It doesn't have to be. She wants to be with you, you want to be with her. It seems pretty clean cut to me."

Alex let out a sad chuckle before she saw Lila coming out, Michael in tow carrying something in a brown paper bag.

"Alexandra, why are you crying?" Lila asked as they approached them, her eyes narrowed in confusion.

"It's nothing," Alex lied wiping away her tears as their car was pulled up. "Just a little stressed."

"Well after this night, who wouldn't be?" Michael chuckled as he held up the thing in the paper bag. "Security footage from tonight as well as the backup copies," he informed her. "Cost a pretty penny to get them, but I figured it was worth it in the long haul. At least when word of tonight's events gets out, we'll be able to claim they have no proof."

"That's illegal," Alex told him, eyeing the video tapes.

"Well is anybody going to tell?" he asked, his voice slightly harsh, and Alex took several steps away from him.

"Don't talk to my daughter like that," Max said as he took a step towards him, but Lila quickly got in front of Max and began pushing him back.

"And on that note, I say we say good evening. Thank you for a… interesting night, Michael, and we will see you soon. Come on, darling, let's go."

With a final glare from both men, Max handed the valet some cash and got into the driver's side, Lila following suit on the passenger's side.

"Alexandra," Michael called before Alex got into the car.

Alex turned back to him as he walked over to her. "I think we both know where this thing with… Oliver is heading. So please when that happens, do not hesitate to give me a call, and I will be more than happy to find you a more suitable and worthier suitor."

Alex glared at him for a moment before she got into the car, slamming the door behind her.

Once home, Alex walked in, throwing her coat on the couch and kicked her heels off, looking around for signs of Olivia and found her coat hanging up, her keys thrown on the kitchen table.

Lila and Max walked in; Lila letting out a few tsks tsks as she picked up Alex's coat from the couch and hung it up on the hook. "I swear, Alexandra, It's like you're still a teenager."

Alex ignored her as her focus laid with the pot of hot and fresh Maxwell House hazelnut coffee on the counter, knowing it was Olivia's favorite brand and only made it when she was really distressed about something because Olivia knew Alex couldn't stand the smell.

Alex took a few shuddering deep breaths as she went over to the fridge and got out a diet soda.

She cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the painful lump in it before she spoke. "I'm gonna go up to bed, okay? I'm sorry, I know you just got here and it's early, but I just had a long day, okay?"

"Are you sure, Alexandra?" Lila said as she came into the kitchen, a look of calm as she breathed deeply. "Ahh, Hazelnut coffee. How did you know it was my favorite, Alexandra?"

Alex couldn't help but chuckle as she shook her head in disbelief. "The one thing you two have in common is loving the type of coffee I absolutely hate. Do me a favor and tell Olivia you like it too. She'll never make it again."

Alex gave her a sad smile before beginning to walk upstairs. "Oh and by the way, mom?"

"Yes, what is it?" Lila asked as she went over to her cupboard and got out a coffee mug.

Alex cleared her throat loudly as she put down the cup.

"I… I know the truth, about what you did tonight."

Lila began fidgeting with her hands, twisting the bracelets around on her wrists.

"Oh? A, and how did you find out, exactly?" she asked as she poured the shaking pot into the mug.

"When Olivia told me in the bathroom at the restaurant."

Lila sat down at the table, looking down at the wood, poking the edges with her nails, taking a tentative sip of the drink. "I'm sorry, Alexandra. I... I was going to tell you, honestly. I mean, it is for the best if you really think about it."

Alex shook her head in disbelief. "No, mom, it isn't. How could you do that to me? Why would you try to destroy my life like that?"

"It would have looked wrong at the wedding!" Lila cried, a pleading look in her face, tears welling up in her eyes. "You know yourself we're not natural blonds! My stylist was out with swine flu for the week, and I used the at home color! I know it looks fake, but it was just the roots, Alexandra! I swear to you it was just the roots!"

Alex blinked several times as she looked at her mother in complete and utter confusion. "You think I'm upset about you using boxed hair color?"

Lila nodded, wiping her eyes with a napkin on the table. "I know I preached to never use those finger paints in a box, but I was desperate! I'm so sorry, Alexandra! I hope you can forgive me."

"What? No! Mom, that's not what I was talking about. I didn't even notice until you told me just now."

Lila dabbed her eyes once more. "You... you weren't? Then what were you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you told Olivia I was cheating on her."

Lila straightened out at once, the tears ceasing to a grinding halt, taking another drink of her coffee. "Oh that. Well, that was just a business necessity, Alexandra, no harm done."

"You're more upset over the fact you used at home hair color then you are about trying to break me and Olivia up?" Alex said dryly.

"Darling, relax. Do you or do you not want to win the election?"

"Not at the cost of losing the woman I love! I can't believe you would do that to us!"

"First off, what on earth could you find to love about her?"

"She's romantic," Alex snapped, glaring fiercely at Lila. "She makes me laugh until my ribs hurt, she's intelligent, she's charming, she's beautiful, she's strong, she stands up for what she believes in, she's the most amazing woman I ever met , she-."

Lila held up a hand to stop her before she sighed, leaning over the table and patting her hand gently. "Alexandra, it's okay. You can tell me the truth. You're fathers upstairs feeding Martha, and Olivia is nowhere in sight."

Alex looked at her for a moment, completely befuddled. "I am telling the truth, mom. I love Olivia more than anything, more so then some stupid election."

"Stupid election?" Lila scoffed in disbelief. "Alexandra, ever since you were five years old, you've wanted to be in politics. When every other child your age was watching cartoons, you were watching C-Span. When every other little girl was playing with dolls, you were playing House of Representative. You spent over eighty thousand dollars to get a degree in law and political science at NYU where you were the top of your class, and until you met Olivia, you never would have called any election 'stupid'!"

The two women looked at one another before Alex looked down at the floor. "I can't have both, and as much as I _did _want to become the first female governor of New York-"

"Alexandra, you still can!" Lila prompted her eyes boring into Alex's. "You can still be the governor; you can still be in the senate, and maybe even president, who knows? The point is…" Lila took a deep breath before continuing. "I told Olivia that you were cheating on her so that she would leave you alone during this crucial phrase. Maybe once you get elected, it'll be different. But right now you can't be labeled, and believe me, if you show up married to a woman as out of the closet as Olivia trying to run for Republican office, you will be labeled."

Lila sighed as she held Alex's hand; once again twisted the engagement ring on Alex's hand as if she were itching to rip it off. "I know it isn't fair, and I know it isn't right. Okay, I know that a lot of powerful people in our party have ignorant, hateful, untrue, stereotypical view points on people like you and Olivia. But they're not going to change for you, Alexandra. And if you want to win, like I know you want to. Then you're going to have to be the one who changes."

Alex was silent for a moment before Lila went over and gently kissed her on top of the head. "Good night, Alexandra. I'll see you in the morning."

Lila walked away from her, and soon Alex heard the echoing of footsteps on the stairs.

Alex simply remained frozen for a moment before she forced herself out of her daze, her mind going over what Lila had just told her.

Alex took a deep breath before she forced her legs to move, carrying her away from the table and up the steps, her mind racing.

Alex went to her bedroom and took several deep breaths before she opened the closed door.

"Hey," Olivia greeted softly, giving her a small smile as she sat on the bed wearing a wife beater and a pair of hipsters, her own cup of the hazelnut coffee beside her. "Figured talking up here in private would be better than having third party input."

"Good idea," Alex said, forcing a smile on her face as she walked over to her and put her soda on her bed side stand, unable to hide the laugh as Olivia's took a drink, a look of relaxation washing over her. "God I love this coffee. What's so funny?" Olivia asked as Alex went over to her dresser and unzipped her dress.

"Nothing," Alex said with a chuckle as she stepped out of the dress. "Absolutely nothing."

Alex grabbed the first baggy T-shirt she found and put it over her head as well as a light blue pair of pajama pants.

"I remember when you got that shirt," Olivia said with a tiny laugh as Alex turned back around and walked back to the bed, looking down at the red shirt with the rat in a powdered wig and black robe. "It was the first time I ever took you thrift store shopping, and you saw it and you just had to have it."

Alex let out a chuckle and nodded. "I remember you trying to get Fin to take for the longest time before you finally realized I was gay. Then when you told me you were as well, it was like I couldn't even talk to you without sounding like an idiot."

"You never sounded like an idiot to me," Olivia assured her as Alex climbed into the bed next to her, taking the soda once more, running a finger over the rim of the can

Alex was silent for a moment before she began to swish the soda around in the can. "Did I sound like an idiot tonight?"

"Yes."

Alex stayed silent as she took a sip of soda before she continued. "I didn't mean to. It just sort of, came out. You know, all the idiotic things about us hiding our relationship."

Olivia took a deep breath before putting the cup down. "I know it 'just came out'. Like all the other lies you've told me over and over."

"Olivia, I said I was-"

"Sorry," Olivia finished, an edge of coldness on the tip of her voice. "And you'll never lie again; you swear to me that you love me, and that you can't help yourself because you don't want to disappoint Lila or that idiot who was at dinner tonight."

"Well on the plus side you just cut down a five minute pleading to about three seconds," Alex said with a forced laugh praying it covered the tears.

Olivia sighed as she looked down at the comforter and began t play with one of the loose threads. "Alex, I've been thinking about it, and-"

"Olivia, don't," Alex said, knowing that whatever words she was about to say couldn't be good looking back up at her.

Olivia continued as if Alex hadn't of spoken. "I think we should postpone the wedding."

Alex bit her lip and shook her head, her voice breaking. "But I love you."

"That's the thing, Alex," Olivia said, her voice also filled with tears. "You say you want to get married, that you love me, that you want to spend the rest of your life with me, but you don't act like it. I mean look at tonight."

"Tonight meant nothing!" Alex told her, taking her hands in her own.

"But it did though. Alex, you know I support you, that if you had just talked to me, it would be a hundred percent different. But you went ahead and did all this planning, you got a campaign manager who would rather spit on us then look at us without even talking to me about it. And now you're telling me that you want us to keep it all a secret because of the election."

"I don't!" Alex cried, hating herself for being unable to meet Olivia's eyes. "Olivia, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you!"

"But do you want to marry me? Look me dead in the eyes when you answer this, and please be honest. I won't be mad, I won't be upset, I won't even blame you, but I have to know this."

Alex took Olivia's hands in hers, allowing herself to breathe when Olivia didn't pull away. "Olivia, I love you, okay? I want to be with you forever."

"You didn't answer my question," Olivia whispered, as looked down at the intertwined hands. "Do you want to get married? Not do you love me, not do you want to spend the rest of your life with me, but do you want to have our relationship on the record, legalized, and publically announced?""

Alex put her finger under Olivia's chin and raised it as she looked dead straight into Olivia's eyes. "Yes."

"Even with all the voters and politicians who are going to judge you because of it?"

"Olivia, I don't care about that stuff!"

"It seemed to me like you did tonight."

"Well I don't!" Alex cried once more. "I am so sorry about what Michael, and Lila, and I said tonight, but I swear to god I want to marry you!"

"You're not going to hide it when the election starts? Because, Alex, I swear to god, I'm not gonna take any more lies. Okay, when you make plans with that guy, I want you to talk to me about it. If we have to end up moving to Albany or Washington, or someplace upstate, we need to discuss it. And I'm not going to hide who I am when the election and news cameras come around, alright? Do you understand? I'm not going to lie about myself for you again. I did it once for your parents, but I'm not doing it for strangers.""

Alex shook her head frantically. "Olivia, I swear to you that I'm not going to hide you, or tuck you away, or keep you in the dark, or however else you want to classify it. I want to be with you, and I want everyone to know that I am with you, alright? Do you believe me?"

Olivia let out a sob before she nodded. "

Alex smiled before she wrapped her arms around her, nuzzling her neck. "I love you," Alex whispered in her ear.

Olivia closed her eyes as Alex began kissing her neck, after each kiss repeating that same phrase.

"Stop," Olivia groaned as Alex kissed the hollow of her throat, gently lapping at it. "Alex, don't."

"What's wrong?" Alex asked softly as her hands began to move up Olivia's shirt, tracing her well defined muscles before cupping one of her breasts.

"The wedding," Olivia reminded her as she reluctantly pushed Alex's hands back down. "No sex for two weeks, remember?"

Alex at once pulled away from her throat, her eyes wide. "You were serious about that?"

Olivia chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Yes, unfortunately I was."

Alex remained shock as Olivia laid down on the bed, gently pulling Alex down with her.

"I love you," Olivia muttered in her ear as she reached over and turned off the bed side lamp, wrapping her arms around her and holding her close.

"Uh huh," was all that Alex managed to say as she reached over and turned off her own lamp, still in a slight daze.

Please Review!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

I own no one but my own people

A/N I'm leaving for Boston on Tuesday for Spring Break, and this chapter took me a little longer than I expected it to, but I wanted to get it put up before I left and worry about it when I'm out there, so this chapter was not betaed by my awesome and kick ass beta SVUrookie, who you can find in my fave authors tab and on the profile itself.

This chapter is dedicated to Private First Class Andrew Peters. The best soldier I ever had or ever will have the honor of knowing. 1987-2010

Alex and Olivia's Brownstone, June 3rd, 8:57 AM

The next day Olivia woke up with her arms encased around Alex, a soft smile on her face as she held Alex closer to her.

Olivia slowly took her arms out from around her before she kissed her softly on the cheek, and couldn't help but let out a laugh as Alex swatted her away.

"What's going on?" Alex muttered, not opening her eyes.

"It's almost nine a clock. Elliot is going to be over soon."

"Why?" Alex mumbled, trying to rack her tired mind as to figure out what Olivia was talking about.

"He got his tux this morning and he's coming over to show it to us."

Alex groaned and pulled the covers over her head. "It's too early for wedding stuff."

Olivia chuckled as she pulled the covers back. "No it's not. Up and attum."

Alex let out a tiny spew of muttered cuss words before she got out of bed, grabbing her robe from the headboard, stifling a yawn.

Olivia pulled on a pair of gray sweat pants and hoodie before following.

Both walked into the kitchen and stopped cold at the scene that awaited them.

Glaring slightly at the woman who was sitting down at her table sipping on her coffee and reading the paper, Olivia cleared her throat loudly.

Lila looked up from the paper and straightened up at once. "Olivia."

"Lila."

Alex looked in between the two and walked into the kitchen, blocking Olivia from her mother. "How'd you sleep, mom?"

"Fine yourself?" Lila snapped, still glowering at Olivia.

"Good," Alex said as she looked between Olivia and Lila. "Where's dad? He's usually up this time of day?"

"Went down to the Deli to grab us some doughnuts, he'll be back shortly," Lila said, her eyes still narrowed in anger, but Olivia refused to back down first.

Both Olivia and Lila looked at one another for a moment, both refusing to break eyes before Olivia finally won that small battle and Lila looked back down to her paper, but her eyes weren't skimming over the page like they had been.

Olivia continued to glower at her before she walked over to the cupboard, wrenching out a coffee mug and slammed it down on the counter.

"Olivia, be a dear and grab me the diet sugar," Lila asked not looking up from her paper. "You know the one that prevents women your age from getting love handles."

"Calm down, please," Alex pleaded softly rubbing the small of her back as Olivia clenched the mug handle so tight she swore she heard it crack some.

Olivia said nothing but took her coffee and went to the table and yanked the chair away from the table before sitting down, her eyes narrowed at Lila still.

Alex let out a muffled groan before she sat down in between the, slowly sipping her coffee.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as Alex looked from one to the other. After several more seconds of this, Alex forced herself to speak. "Olivia, after Elliot leaves, remind me to call Gold's and see if they have our dresses ready yet."

At this little tidbit of news, Lila seemed to perk up. "You've already picked out your dress?"

Alex took another sip of coffee before she answered. "Yeah. Speaking of that, you still need-"

"Who are you wearing?"

"Some local designer," Alex said with a shrug. "But anyway, mom, you need to let us know-"

A loud scoff interrupted Alex once more. "You're getting your first wedding dress from some local nobody designer?" Lila shook her head frantically. "No, sorry, will not be having it! My daughter will-"

"First off, what do you mean by first?" Olivia bitterly snapped. She was in no mood to listen to Lila's insults this morning. "And second, he does amazing work."

"Olivia, don't interrupt, it's rather discourteous," Lila told her with a sickly sweet smile.

Olivia let out a breath of disbelief. "Oh don't even talk to me about being 'discourteous'! Not after that stunt you pulled last night!"

At once, Lila began to become very invested in her coffee cup. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me! You called me last night and told me that Alex was cheating on me!"

"Alexandra is cheating on you?" Lila gasped, clutching her hand to her heart as she looked back up at Olivia. "Now that is just something I will not accept in this family! Olivia, you're better off leaving her."

Alex glared at her and opened her mouth to stay something but Olivia spoke first. "I cannot believe you, Lila! First off to blatantly lie to me about it, and second, to keep up the lie when both me and Alex know it's a lie."

Lila shrugged as if the fact she had been caught in her lie was as common as getting told she was a blond. "Can't a girl make one mistake?"

"Not when it involves my life you can't."

Alex put a hand on Olivia's shoulder as she looked in between them. "Why don't we all just calm down before someone says something one of us is going to regret?"

"Well seeing as how your life is chock full of your own mistakes, you would think my interfering would be an improvement," said Lila as she straightened out in her chair, making herself seem taller than she was.

"Like that," Alex groaned placing her head in her hands.

Lila looked utterly confused. "What do you mean, Alexandra? I never regret telling the truth, even if I am a politician's wife."

"Alright, you want truth?" Olivia all but growled. "I'll give you the truth. You're nothing but a-"

"Doorbell!" Alex cried as she grabbed Olivia's hand and pulled her away from the table, thanking god that whoever it was had showed up just then.

"Will you _please _calm down!" pleaded Alex softly as she walked over to the door, almost struggling to tear Olivia away from the kitchen.

"She's being a bitch, Alex, even more so then usual," Olivia grumbled, determined not to let Alex hear the sadness in her voice.

"She has a lot on her plate right now."

"Her plate?" Olivia screeched in disbelief as Alex opened the door, mustering a smile for Elliot.

"Hi, Elliot, come in," Alex told him, the smile not disappearing off her face, hoping to distract him from Olivia's glower.

Her hopes went unfulfilled.

"What's wrong?" he asked Olivia as he walked in, nearly pushing Alex out of the way, never having quite forgiven her for what she had done to Olivia last December, his brow wrinkled with concern. In his hands was a long white plastic bag on a hanger.

"Alexandra!" Lila's voice called from the kitchen. "Is Olivia going to get me that sugar, or am I going to have to squeeze it from my hat?"

"Never mind," Elliot said with a smirk as Olivia glared at him. "The witch of the North East is here and Dorothy is pissed."

"Just shut up and let me see the tux!" Olivia snapped a little louder then she had intended.

"His tux?" the voice called again, followed by the scraping of a chair and foot steps into the living room, looking utterly astounded. "What do you need to see his tux for?"

"He's part of the wedding party and I wanted to see the finished product," Olivia told her not looking back.

"But… but you're both brides!" Lila cried as if one of them may have forgotten that piece of information. You can't have groomsmen without a groom! I know you're a little confused when it comes to gender roles, but men can't be bridesmaids."

"First off," Olivia growled as she clenched her fists together. "Elliot isn't going to be a bridesmaid. He's my maid of honor, or best man, or however you want to classify it."

The only sound in the tiny apartment was the sound of Elliot unzipping the bag and the rustling of fabric, and then a gasp.

"Elliot it's perfect!" Olivia said a smile appearing on her face that Alex hadn't seen since the day before yesterday as she took in the black tux with the light blue tie with the white cummerbund. "And they'll all like that?"

"Yup, they're ready whenever Munch, Fin, and Cragen want to pick them up."

"He's… he's what?" Lila finally managed to squeak out, interrupting Olivia's momentary joy.

Alex cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. "Elliot is going to be Olivia's… maid of best man or something equivalent to that."

Lila seemed to come out of her state of shock and violently shook her head. "No."

Both Olivia and Elliot turned to her, Olivia's eye brow raised. "I'm sorry?"

"No. You're not going to have a best man or groomsmen when there's no groom involved. It'll look much too trashy. I know you don't have that many female friends, lord knows what female would want to be friends with you, but I know some women of your age who would be willing to do it. I'll give them a call later-"

"No," Olivia said simply as she cut her off. "I'm not gonna have some hired hands be my bridesmaids or maid of honor-"

"I prefer the term best man," Elliot said with a small nod, his comment going unnoticed.

"Just because you think it'll look trashy," Olivia finished.

Lila scoffed in disbelief. "And you would rather look like an idiot? Would you rather my daughter look like an idiot?"

"No one is going to look like an idiot," Elliot tried to assure her, looking at Alex for support, somewhat surprised when he received none. "But I'm Olivia's best friend, I have been for the past twelve years, and I would be part of it even if she was straight and getting married."

"Well she's not straight and rules are rules. You're more than welcome to attend the event, but I'm afraid that you're not going to be a part of the party."

Olivia went to take a step towards her, but before she even moved and inch, Elliot was behind her, grabbing a hold of her shoulders incase she needed restraint.

"You don't get to make the decisions, Lila. This is mine and Alex's wedding, not yours. Hell you should count your stars that we're getting married in a church by a priest because you wanted us too!"

"Well excuse me for being a part of my daughter's wedding! Mothers do that for their children! Of course you wouldn't know anything about that, but-"

"Don't you DARE talk to Olivia like that!" Elliot snarled, his hold on Olivia lessoning.

"This is Alexandra's house, and I will be able to talk however about whomever I so choose!"

"Not about that you aren't!"

Lila turned to Alex who looked like she wished she could run from the room.

"Alexandra, are you hearing this? He's completely disrespecting me!"

"And she's acting like a bitch to Olivia!" Elliot shouted back also looking at Alex for support.

"Mr. Stabler, must you really resort to using such foul language?"

"I'll show you foul language," he grumbled, gaining a glare from both Alex and Lila.

Lila straightened out her shirt before turning to Alex. "Alexandra, this is your wedding as well, remember that. Do you feel it is appropriate that Olivia get grooms maids or bride's men or whatever she decides to call it?"

Alex looked down at the floor, digging her heels in the floor, praying that they would all just go away.

But she found that her prayers had been unanswered as she lifted her head back up, unable to look at either Olivia and Elliot's anxious faces or at her mother's glaring look. "I um… I'm not sure."

"Alex, are you serious?" Elliot scoffed. "I'm Olivia's best friend; you can't just say I can't be in the wedding party!"

"Well she... she does have a point about it being, you know unconventional, and we both did say we didn't want some big stereotypical thing... so it kind of makes sense that-"

"You're two girls getting married!" Elliot shouted. "Of course it's gonna be unconventional! Almost everything about this wedding is going to be unconventional!"

"Don't shout at my daughter!" Lila ordered as she stormed over to them. "Just because she doesn't want you in the wedding and doesn't want some Vegas floor show as a wedding doesn't mean-"

"I never said I didn't want him in the wedding!"

"That you have any right to be angry at her!" Lila finished as if she didn't hear Alex's outburst. "It's not even your wedding after all, Mr. Stabler! It's Alexandra's and Olivia's, and they should be able to plan it without any third party opinions."

"Except for your opinions," he said dryly.

Lila scoffed as if it were obvious. "Well of course except for mine. Good lord, Mr. Stabler, are you new?"

Elliot glared at her, getting that tiny crease in his forehead and Olivia, who had worked with him long enough, knew that that little crease meant danger.

Although at the present moment, she wouldn't have minded if Elliot had let loose on Lila, and maybe even let Alex have some of it too.

"Elliot, let's go," Olivia told him as she all but pushed him out of the living room and out the door.

"Olivia, wait," Alex pleaded as she followed them out of the brown stone, shutting the door behind her.

The moment they were outside, Elliot rounded on Alex, his eyes narrowed in anger. "What the hell, Alex? How the hell can you treat her like that?"

"I didn't do anything," Alex protested, looking at Olivia for support and seeing nothing but a cold hard stare. "I told her-"

"You told her to go right on ahead and kick me and all of Olivia's friends out of the wedding party! You're letting your mother run this wedding, and it's not fair to her! Olivia, let's go!"

"Don't tell her what to do!" Alex told him, an edge of fear in her voice that Olivia would leave again.

"No, better let her stay here and have your mother tell her what to do!" Elliot snapped back.

"Excuse me!" Olivia yelled, "I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions on where I will be going! And right now…"

Alex took a step closer and took her hands, letting out a silent breath of relief when Olivia didn't pull away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let her over run us again."

"Bull shit!" Elliot shouted. "How many times have you told her she was sorry, and then just lied or did the same thing over and over again? Or let Lila do the same thing over and over again?"

Alex stammered as she looked from Elliot to Olivia. "I didn't-"

"Or how about you not telling her that you're running for senate, and she had to find it out from some politician and your shrew of a mother?"

Alex's eyes widened once more as she turned to Olivia, hurt in her face. "You told him?"

"He's my best friend, and my fiancée has just made me feel lower then dirt, of course I called up and told him."

"What are you talking about, made you feel lower then dirt?" Alex demanded, still upset that Olivia had told Elliot something she had only told her and her parents.

"The fact that you weren't defending me when that Michael guy told us we should break up, or that I should stay away from you, and you actually considered it."

Alex looked down at the ground, her own anger forgotten as Elliot continued what Olivia had started. "She was in tears. She called me and told me that you would rather put your job on the line then care about her. She said she was devastated, Alex. She said when you slapped her, it hurt less then what you did last night."

Olivia turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. She had been upset, but she hadn't been crying, and she certainly didn't tell him she was 'devastated', nor did she bring up what happened at Christmas. Mostly the call consisted of cussing out both Lila, Michael, and once in a great while Alex, but not one tear had been shed.

But Elliot got the effect he wanted and a smug look appeared on his face as he turned to Olivia once more.

"Olivia, let's go."

"Now hang on!" Alex pleaded desperately. "Olivia, I'm sorry, alright? I'll say it a thousand times over if it means that you're willing to forgive me. I swore to you last night that I wouldn't lie to you anymore, and I meant it. I'm not going to listen to Michael about our relationship anymore, alright? And I'll tell Lila to stay out of the wedding, alright? Just… don't go. Please."

Olivia looked at her for a moment before she turned back to Elliot who was dumbfounded at his partner's choice.

"Elliot-"

"You're going to let her get away with this aren't you?"

"I love her, and she said she was sorry and made me a promise-"

"Not to do it again," Elliot finished. He suddenly looked confused. "Wow, this conversation sounds so familiar, where have I heard it before, you know, besides from last Christmas? Oh that's right. Nearly half of our victims tell us that exact same story."

Olivia scoffed. "You cannot be serious."

"Well she hit –"

"Slapped."

"Whatever. But she _hit_ you, you left, she begged to take you back, you did, and now it's happening all over again."

Alex narrowed his eyes at Elliot as she stormed over to him. "Eliot, just stay the hell out of things you don't understand!"

"Now she's telling your friends to stay out of your life," Elliot said almost with a smirk that made both women want to slap off him.

"I'm not saying that!" Alex cried in frustration.

"Next thing you know she'll be saying you deserved what she does to you."

"I would never say that and she doesn't deserve any… any of the things that I put her through!"

"Elliot, you need to leave now," Olivia demanded. "Thank you for showing us the tuxes and you _will_ be wearing them come June 15th, but right now you need to go."

Elliot and Olivia seemed to stare one another down, both refusing to accept the fact that both partners were defying the other one.

"You know she'll hurt you again," he whispered harshly, "you know she will Olivia, it's only a matter of time."

"Get off of my property!" Alex growled, trying to muster up some courage in the face of him.

"Calling it her property when you both pay rent-"

"Leave!" Alex screamed, followed by the slamming of a car door and running footsteps.

"What in the name of heaven is going on out here?" a voice cried as he ran over to them.

All three turned to look at who the voice was and Olivia groaned loudly, not even attempting to cover it up.

"Alexandra, why are you shouting out here on the street… in a bathrobe none the less?" Michael inquired as he ran up to them. Do you know how bad that'll be for your image if someone were to snap a picture right now?"

Alex stayed silent as Elliot cleared her throat, turning the attention back on himself.

"Who are you?" Michael asked as he looked him over before looking back at Alex.

"He's nobody, and he's leaving," Alex said harshly.

"Oh really? Well do you mind taking Butch Cassidy with you?" he asked as he nodded to Olivia.

"Oh crap," Alex thought to herself as Elliot whipped his head around to Michael.

"What did you just say?" he snarled at him.

"Nothing, its fine, Elliot, please go," Olivia pleaded, knowing that if he were to assault or arrest or even both, Michael wouldn't rest until her had his head on a silver platter.

"Michael, leave her alone," Alex told him with a note of anger and annoyance in her tone.

Michael looked at her for a moment evidently confused before he cleared his throat. "Fine… I'll be inside. We have some things we need to go over about the farmers and welfare mothers in upstate. God knows why those Hicks don't just get their own state, but they still do count for some of the vote. "

"Olivia's sitting in too, right?" Alex asked, surprised at herself for the small tremor in her voice, afraid that Michael would say no.

Michael's eyes seemed to widen to the size of tea saucers as he looked between Alex and Olivia. "Well… Alexandra, no offense to your… roommate, but she knows as much about politics as Hilary Clinton."

"I'm standing right here you know," Olivia said dryly.

"Yes your point? Anyway, Alexandra, are you sure-"

"She's my fienc-"

Michael then did probably the stupidest thing he had ever done in his entire career.

He slapped his hand over Alex's mouth hard, causing her to wince in slight pain.

"Don't say that word when-"

But he never got to finish his sentence.

Olivia grabbed him by his other arm and slammed him into the brick building, forcing one arm behind him.

"You do not ever touch her like that," she growled in his ear, twisting his arm so that she almost heard the bones snap. "Do we have an understanding?"

"Get off me, woman!" Michael demanded as Olivia let him out of her grasp.

He turned around and straightened out his suit and tie before turning to Alex who had to bite back a grin, biting the inside of her cheek so that her laugh didn't sneak through.

"I will be inside icing my arm from where your _room mate_ just assaulted me!"

He stormed past her and into the brown house, slamming the door behind him.

Olivia turned to Alex, a sympathetic look on her face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Alex told her with a soft smile. "Thank you for that."

"My pleasure," Olivia said with a smirk, and Alex knew she was telling the truth.

Elliot shook his head, causing both women to look at him. "I know what I'm about to say is more than likely going to get me slammed up against the wall but-"

"Then don't say it," Alex snapped at him.

"But Olivia doesn't deserve what you put her through, Alex."

"Are you serious?" Olivia shouted in disbelief. "Are we in some sort of crappy romance novel here? Christ, Elliot! I love Alex, Alex loves me, and she doesn't "put me through" anything, and screw you for saying that!"

Elliot looked at her for a moment before he spoke again. "You're my best friend, Liv. I just don't want to see you hurt. That's all I'm saying."

"Well you've said it, so you can go now," Alex told him with a little dismiss of her hand.

Elliot glared at her for a moment before he turned back to Olivia. "Just remember what I said okay?"

With a smile towards his partner, he left the suit in tow.

"God what an ass," Alex muttered under her breath.

"He's just looking out for me," Olivia protested as he watched him walk away.

"Well I still think he's an ass."

Olivia said nothing in regards to her comment as Alex made a move to go back inside.

"You coming?" she asked form the steps.

Olivia looked at the retreating car for a moment before she turned back to Alex and gave her a half hearted smile, Elliot's words ringing in her ears. "Yeah, let's go."

Please review and see y'all when I get back.


	5. Chapter 5

I own no one

"Death Penalty?"

"Favor of."

"Welfare and other assisted living?"

"Not in favor."

"The war?"

"Favor of."

"Helping out foreign countries?"

"Only in national emergencies."

"Abortion?"

Alex looked over at Olivia who looked down at the floor, not saying a word as she sat there on the chair looking over the final seating plans of the wedding, although Alex noticed that her eyes weren't moving across the page as they had been earlier.

"Alexandra," Michael prompted as Alex looked back towards him. "I need an answer here. This is what causes most politicians to lose. They're insecure in their beliefs."

Alex began ringing her hands together. "I'm… um, I mean-"

"She's pro life, she just doesn't want to admit it because I'm pro choice," Olivia answered for her as she made a mark on the paper.

"I mean for rape and if it'll cause harm to the mother or if something is wrong with the baby then that's fine but-"

"Don't say that to your public, that'll make you look indecisive," Michael warned as he made a mark in his folder. "When asked just say 'I am pro life with my own personal exceptions,' although how one can actually believe in murder is beyond my comprehension, but what have you."

Alex groaned and nodded, rubbing her temple with her fingers. "Michael, we've been at this for three hours. Can we stop for some lunch or something?"

Michael glared at her but never the less shut his file. "Fine. I need to meet with another client out in Long Island anyway so I'll see you later, Alexandra."

"Thank you," she said with a smile that he didn't return.

Michael got up from his chair and looked down at Olivia who had refused to look at him that entire three hours.

He cleared his throat loudly before he left the house, all but slamming his door behind him.

Alex took a deep breath before she turned to Olivia and offered her a smile as she walked over to her and sat down on the arm of her chair.

"You want something to eat? I think we've still got some of that fried chicken from yesterday, but I think it might be-"

"Why were you so worried about telling Michael about your view on abortion?" Olivia interrupted as she flipped a page in the binder.

Alex shrugged. "Because I know you're pro choice."

"So? Did you think I was gonna be angry for you admitting something I've known since I first met you practically? I'm marrying a republican; your views come with the package."

Alex looked down at her in confusion. "What does it matter?"

"I was just wondering," Olivia said, although Alex could tell there was something that Olivia was hiding.

Olivia flipped another page in the binder and looked up at Alex and gave her a small grin. "I promise I was just curious."

Alex returned the smile as Olivia looked back at the book.

Alex also looked over the book and pointed to one of the names highlighted in blue.

"Did you ever get your grandmother to call you back?"

A small blush broke out on Olivia's face. "Yeah."

"And?"

Olivia cleared her throat and looked up at her, a sad smile on her face. "She said she 'would never come to the wedding of the dyke bitch that ruined her daughter's life' but you know, her words weren't as nice."

Alex sighed and hugged her around the neck, letting Olivia rest her head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in her ear. "Olivia, I'm so sorry."

Olivia pulled away and wiped at the tears that had began to form. "It's fine. I'm used to it by now. Hell compared to what her and the rest of my family call me on a normal basis that was actually decent."

Alex stayed silent as Olivia crossed out the name 'Erika Benson' off the list and pointed to the name right beside it. "When I was seven, my grandfather bought my mom, and her two brothers and their children plane tickets to their winter home in Florida. The day before the trip, my mother called him to see where mine was. I picked up the other line and heard him say that he 'would rather be dead then have that devils spawn in his house'."

Olivia managed a teary smile as she scribbled over 'Demetri Benson'. "My mother slammed down the phone, ripped up her plane ticket, and took me to go see 'Grease' on Broadway that night and made me my favorite meals all that week."

Olivia pointed to another name and scribbled that one out as well. "My uncle Christopher was the one who actually told me about what happened to my mom. He was my mom's favorite brother and he loved my mom and looked out for her. That's why I asked him about it, and he felt she I should know the truth. After… after he told me he said that if I loved my mom, then I would just kill myself and stop making her relive the worst thing that ever happened to her. I was six."

Alex had to bite back the tears that had filled her eyes as Olivia continued, crossing out various names on the seating plan, her tears falling on the sheets of paper. "That night when my mom went out of get things for dinner, I took out the gun from under her pillow. I put it to my head and-"

"Olivia, no," Alex managed to whisper as she held her hand tighter than before.

Olivia sniffed and looked down at the floor. "I couldn't get the safety off. When my mom came home and saw what I was doing. I told her what Chris had told me and that if I really loved her that I should kill myself. She called up Chris, told him to never contact her or me ever again, and she never spoke to her brother again."

Olivia turned to look up at Alex who forced the tears behind her eyes. "My mother beat me on a regular basis, drank almost every day I remember, called me the worst names under the sun some days. But she loved me, Alex. And I can't even begin to think of all the sacrifices she made for me. Not just not going to Florida, or even not speaking to her brother again. But she was forced to relive her rape every time she looked at me, and she managed to still love me to some degree."

Olivia looked down at the paper again and pointed to the only name left highlighted in blue that wasn't crossed out and smiled down at the paper at the lone name. "The only family I have left is Simon."

Alex wrapped her arms around her and held her as close as he could manage. "And me," she breathed, making sure that Olivia knew those words were true. "And I'm so sorry your… 'family' put you through that. No one should have to go through that because of something you had no control over."

Olivia shrugged. "If someone ruined your life, or our child's, or my brother's life to the point that they drank themselves to death, I don't know if I wouldn't feel the same way about them."

"Not your own family though! And you did not ruin your mother's life!" Alex told her with a hint of order in her tone. "The alcohol and her rapist did that."

Alex hugged her once more and didn't bother to pull away when they heard the pair of footsteps on the stairs.

"Are we interrupting something?" Lila's voice called out in disgust.

"Shut up," Alex muttered much too soft for Lila to hear as she pulled away from Olivia's embrace to look over at Lila and Max.

"I see Michael is gone," Lila said with a glare at Olivia who didn't even bother to return it. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he was assaulted outside the building did it?"

"From what I was told, he assaulted Alex first," Max said defending Olivia's behavior with a small nod towards Olivia. "I would have hoped anyone would have done the same thing if they had witnessed that."

"Well still… nearly breaking the arm of man that holds Alexandra's future in his hands isn't the brightest idea. Of course from that outfit you happen to be wearing proves that you aren't exactly the brightest bulb in the pack either."

"Lila, will you just shut up?" Olivia snapped as Lila and Max walked over to them.

Lila scoffed loudly as she sat down on the chair nearest them. "Well now really!"

Lila was silent for a moment before she wrenched the seating plan out of Olivia's hands.

"What is this?" she asked as Alex restrained Olivia's hands from snatching it back.

"It's the seating plan for the wedding," Alex told her as Max also went over and sat besides her, also looking it over.

Lila looked at it in confusion. "Alexandra, why are so many of these names crossed off?"

"That would be my family," Olivia muttered as she turned a brilliant shade of red.

Even Max looked flustered as he looked at it closer. "Well, Olivia, surly not all of your family said no?"

"All but one," she whispered, biting back tears once more. Olivia let out a weak chuckle. "Actually three if his girlfriend and her son are coming."

Both Lila and Max looked at one another before turning to Olivia. "That just doesn't make sense." Lila snapped as if it was Olivia's fault that half of the seating plan was crossed out, and Alex had a strong suspicion that that is exactly what Lila felt. "Who wouldn't want to come to their family members wedding?"

"Mine, apparently."

Lila shook her head. "So me and Max are having practically no input from your side of the family on this in terms of cost?"'

"Mom, stop," Alex pleaded as she looked over at Olivia who had turned a whole other shade redder, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand

"I'll help pay," Olivia promised.

"Not to mention how unbalanced it'll look at the church!"

"Mom, please, knock it off!" Alex practically begged as Lila looked over the papers once more.

Lila shook her head. "No. I refuse to have this wedding look screwed up because her family doesn't want to go! Just because you probably did something to make them all angry, and more than likely it was your fault! "

"Refuse all you damn want; it's not going to change the fact that they're not coming!" Olivia snapped as she got up from the chair and stormed out of the room.

Alex closed her eyes as she heard the sound of Olivia going up the stairs before slamming their bedroom door shut.

Lila looked between Alex and Max in complete confusion. "What on earth is her problem? What did I do?"

"What you always do, mom," Alex growled. "You make everyone feel horrible about things they can't control!"

Lila looked practically scandalized. "I assure you, Alexandra, it was not my intentions to make Olivia feel horrible that her family doesn't like her. Although you do have to wonder what would make her entire family not come to her wedding. Maybe you should look into these things before you go and marry her. I mean if her own family doesn't like her, there has to be some reason-."

"There is actually!" Alex yelled. "And believe it or not, it's not her fault! There is not one valid reason why any of those bastards don't like her!"

"Language, Alexandra!" Lila scolded, but Alex could care less at the moment.

"I don't care. You're going to go outback and apologize to her."

Lila scoffed. "You can't be serious!"

"I am. You have no idea how much you just hurt her with that. The clothing, and the age, and all that other things didn't even compare to what you just told her."

Lila stammered for a moment as she turned to Max. "Darling, back me up here!"

Max shook his head. "No, Lila. And you want to know why? Because you have no idea of Olivia's history. And in my opinion, anyone who does dislike Olivia has no reasoning to what so ever."

Lila glared at Max for the smallest amount of time before she turned back to Alex and sighed. "Can't I just get her a nice card?"

"Mom!"

"Fine!"

Mumbling loudly to herself, Lila got off from the couch and went up the stairs.

"I can't believe _I_ have to apologize for that woman's family not being a fan of her!" Lila muttered to herself as she went to Alex's and Olivia's bedroom. "They're probably not a fan of the mother either who went and got herself pregnant by some nameless one night stand!"

With a deep breath she went and tapped on the door.

"Alex, not now," she heard Olivia say through the door.

Lila took a deep breath before she spoke. "It's… It's not Alexandra, its Lila."

Lila heard Olivia storm towards the door and it was wrenched open. "What do you want?"

Lila withheld a glare and cleared her throat. "May I come in?"

"Are you going to insult me?"

"Probably."

Olivia sighed but never the less moved out of the way so that Lila could come into the room.

Lila walked in and Olivia stood back and crossed her arms. "Well?"

"Well what?"'

"Well why did you ask to come into mine and Alex's room?"

Lila sighed and looked down at the floor, running a heel into the carpet. "I… I just wanted to apologize for what I said to you downstairs. It was rude of me and I had no right to."

Olivia nodded. "Thank you."

Lila offered a half smile before she went to turn around when she spun back around. "I'm sorry, Olivia, but you cannot deny the fact that it is odd that none of your family wants to go to your wedding."

"I thought you were done with the apology?" Olivia asked dryly.

Lila glowered at her for a moment before she continued. "Maybe it is your business, maybe not, but I do know that you are marrying my only child. And gay, straight, black, white, I deserve to know your past."

"Lila, please-"

"How would you feel, Olivia," Lila said, almost pleading to Olivia. "If some strange man who you know very little about, because in all honesty, I really do not know all that much about you, came up to you and said, 'I'm marrying your daughter. But oh yes, my entire family doesn't want to come to the wedding'. Wouldn't you be just a tiniest bit curious? If you want to keep the more severe details to yourself, I can respect that. Like I have said earlier, I'm a politician's wife. I know more than my fair share about keeping secrets. However, I would like at least some type of explanation."

Olivia sighed heavily as she sat down on her bed, Lila following. "As much as I hate saying this, you're right."

"I am? I mean, of course I am," Lila corrected herself as she sat down next to Olivia.

Olivia looked down at the carpet before she chuckled softly. "I can't believe I'm going to actually tell you of all people this."

Lila remained silent as Olivia took a deep breath and looked up at her. "You know that my mother is dead, and that I never knew my father."

Lila nodded. "Yes. I believe you told me the night that you called me a… well, I'd really rather not repeat some of the most vile words in the English language," Lila said with a glare towards Olivia who pretended like she was ignoring the look.

"Well anyway, I never told you why I never knew my father… Lila, what I'm about to tell you, I've only told a handful of my closest friends and Alex. But like you said, we are going to be… family soon so you deserve to know."

Olivia took another deep breath before she spoke again, Lila almost hanging on to every word as Olivia looked her dead straight in the eyes. "My mother was raped, and her rapist got her pregnant and she had me. They never caught the guy. That's why I don't know why my father is and why my mother's family hates me. They think I made my mother's life miserable."

Olivia looked down at the floor and let out a sad chuckle. "I guess when you make someone be a falling down abusive drunk most of their life that qualifies as ruining their life and making her miserable, so it's not like I can exactly fault them."

"She abused you?" Lila whispered so low Olivia almost didn't hear her.

Olivia looked up at her and was astounded to find tears rolling down Lila's face. "Yeah. Almost every day I can remember."

"Wh- why didn't you go to the police? Tell a teacher, anybody?"

Olivia shrugged. "Because when you get told that it's your fault you get beaten so many times, you start believing it after awhile. But that's actually why I joined SVU. Because I wanted to prove to her that I wasn't like my father-"

"Don't call him that, he doesn't deserve that title!" Lila snapped almost in anger as she wiped the tears away from her face with the back of the hand.

Olivia looked at her in confusion for a moment. "Lila, are you-"

"I'm fine," Lila told her before she could finish, looking at Olivia with a look Olivia had never before seen. "Olivia," she began, "I cannot even begin to describe how sorry I am for insulting your mother, or even to hint at the reason why you never knew that man. If I had even the faintest idea of why you were brought on this earth, I never would have said a word."

"Lila, it's fine," Olivia assured her. "I mean I'm used to it by now. When someone says they never met their father, one just assumes that-"

"Haven't you ever heard that when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me."

Olivia looked at her in confusion. "I never heard you curse before."

Lila shrugged. "Sometimes that language is the perfect language for a woman to use."

Lila then did the only thing that Olivia never thought she would see her do.

She actually smiled at the brunette detective.

"Once again, I am truly sorry, Olivia."

Olivia managed a smile back and for the smallest moment in time, it looked like Lila raised her arms to what might have been a hug, but she quick swiped her hands through her hair and cleared her throat, embarrassed at the would be contact before she stood up, Olivia following.

"Shall we get back downstairs then?"

Olivia chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

Has Lila actually redeemed herself? Or will the next chapter unravel whatever bonding they had gone through?

As your thank you gift to me for uploading so quick, I want at least twenty reviews, be it good, bad, flamey, or what not before the next update *chuckles kind of cruelly.* (Of course y'all are gonna have to wait like a week anyway, but that's beside the point...


	6. Chapter 6

I own no one

A/N I am so sorry for the long update but hopefully the content will make up for it. And if there are any Bostonians out there, you seriously all know how to freaking party! And on even betterer news, I have got a new layout which works with the changes I hadn't originally planned on, and the updates should be coming faster. So enjoy :)

"You're really not going to tell me what you two talked about?"

"She apologized, Alex. What more is there to say?" Olivia offered with a shrug as she took a drink of her coffee.

"Well she's been exceedingly nice to you since she came down from apologizing, and I just want to know what was said is all," Alex said as she also took a drink from her coffee, waiting for Lila and Max to be back from the store.

Olivia turned to her, a smug mile on her face. "You wanted your mother and me to get along, we're getting along. Does it really matter why?"

"Yes, because my mother does not just suddenly begin to like people she disliked two seconds before. Hell she still rants and raves about my kindergarten teacher who cast me as a tree in Sword in the Stone."

Olivia with held a snicker. "You were a tree?"

"The best tree Kings brook Elementary ever saw."

Olivia laughed as she finished off her coffee. "Alex, can't you just accept it that me and Lila are finally actually getting along?"

"I'm sorry, Olivia, but it's just odd to hear her actually be decent to someone."

"I know. But can't you just be happy for me that we're actually getting along? I mean you should be embracing it instead of trying to figure out why."

Alex looked at her for a moment before she cast her eyes to the ground, playing with a loose string on her blouse. "Did you tell her about your family?"

Olivia shrugged as she too cast her eyes to the ground. "Yeah, I mean she's gonna be family, and I am marrying her only daughter. She kind of did have a legitimate reason to know. Plus, how long do you think I could have kept it a secret that my entire family besides my half brother despises me?"

Alex looked over at her for a moment before she took Olivia's hands in hers, running her thumb over Olivia's own engagement ring Alex had bought her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered fondly, making Olivia look up at her. "Anyone with an ounce of brains could never hate you. You're too amazing to even consider hating."

"Don't you think you're a little biased?"

"Not really."

The two women smiled at one another and before Alex could say another word, Olivia's lips met hers, running a hand through the blonds hair, gently twisting it in his hands, pulling her closer.

Alex kissed her back as Olivia ran her tongue over her lips and Alex opened her mouth slightly.

Olivia massaged Alex's tongue with her own, and couldn't help but smirk when Alex almost got off of her chair to be closer to her.

Olivia was the first to pull back and Alex groaned softly, her eyes still closed, her lips still tingling from the kiss.

"God I hate what you do to me."

Olivia chuckled before she leaned in and whispered. "Not for another two weeks."

"Thirteen days actually," Alex corrected as she opened her eyes to look at her.

"Thirteen days," Olivia said a nod.

Alex sighed in contempt as she sat back in her chair. "Who decided on this waiting until marriage thing again?"

"Me."

"And you didn't think I should get a say in it?"

"I would have, but then I also realized you would have been totally and fully against it."

"Well yeah!" Alex scoffed as if it were obvious. "I mean come on, Olivia. You're completely irresistible."

Olivia smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'm that irrespirable?"

Alex nodded. "You're like my own personal brand of Heroin."

Olivia smiled and took Alex's hand in hers. "Oh, Alex, that was so romantic. If I didn't know you got them from those breaking new light books or whatever they're called."

Alex blushed and looked down at the ground, a sheepish grin on her face. "I thought you said you hated those books?"

"I do," Olivia answered as she drained the last of her coffee. "Doesn't mean I didn't force myself to sit through and read them because you wanted me to."

"Well there had to be something you liked about them?" Alex said with a shrug.

Olivia got up and put her cup into the sink. "The part where I read 'The End' in the last one was pretty good."

Alex rolled her eyes as Olivia rinsed out the cup and put it into the dish washer.

Alex was about to take another drink of her coffee when there was a knock on the door, causing both women to stop what they were doing.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Alex asked as Olivia looked at her to ask her the very same question.

"No, I was gonna ask you that."

Before Alex could even get up from the chair, Olivia was already out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Alex got up and walked to the door way and watched as Olivia walked over to the peep hole and looked through it.

"Oh my god!" she breathed before she all but wrenched the door open, a huge, beaming smile on her face.

"Simon! It's so good to see you!" she told him as the two siblings hugged one another.

"You too, Liv," Simon said as he pulled away from her, a smile on his face as well.

"What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting to see you until the wedding?"

Simon shrugged as Olivia moved out of the way of the door to let him in. "I had to tell you some news and I figured it would be better to visit and catch up with my favorite sister then to just pick up a phone."

Alex cleared her throat and both Simon and Olivia looked over at her, and both smiles faltered some.

Simon offered a half smile, a peace offering. "Hi, Alex."

"Simon," Alex responded coldly, glowering at the curly haired man in front of her.

"Alex," Olivia said a hint of warning in her voice.

Alex turned to Olivia for a moment before she turned back to Simon, still glaring at him. "I'll be in the kitchen."

Alex turned around and walked into the kitchen, her head held high.

Olivia sighed softly before turning back to Simon. "She still hasn't forgiven me?"

"Oh no she has. She just hasn't forgiven _me_ for forgiving and helping you."

"Gotcha," Simon said with a sad smile.

"Don't worry about it. Do you want something to drink?"

"Coffee if you got it."

"Well sit down, make yourself at home, and I'll be right back okay?"

Olivia smiled at him for a moment before she went into the kitchen, glowering at Alex.

"What is your problem with him?" Olivia asked softly so that Simon couldn't hear their conversation as she grabbed a coffee cup and poured him a cup.

"Besides the fact he ran away from the cops, almost got you fired and arrested, took a woman hostage and threatened to shoot her you mean?" Alex asked, not bothering to keep her voice down as Olivia did.

"He had to, Alex. He had no other choice," Olivia reminded her for what felt like the hundredth time. "And besides, all that happened before we started dating."

"So? He still almost got you fired and arrested, and let's not forget about shot."

"I never would have shot her if that helps any," Simon's voice rang from the living room.

Alex sighed in contempt as she turned to Olivia who had almost a pleading look in her eyes.

"Alex, please. Simon's-"

"The only family you have," Alex finished. "I know that, Olivia. But that still doesn't mean I have to like him."

"Can't you at least pretend to get along with him? For my sake?" she asked as she took Alex's hand, looking into her eyes, biting her bottom lip in anticipation as she awaited her answer.

Alex was silent for a moment before she sighed and threw her hands up in the air as if she were making a huge sacrifice for the detective. "Fine, I'll tolerate him for yours and the weddings sake, not for his."

"Well thanks, Alex; I know how tough this must be for you!" Olivia snapped as she and Alex went back into the living room, Olivia and Alex forcing the smiles on their lips.

"Thanks," Simon told Olivia as he took the coffee from her, avoiding Alex's eyes at all costs.

"So what was the big news you needed to tell me?" Olivia asked as she sat beside him on the couch, Alex sitting at the chair furthest away from the pair.

Simon cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Well it's good and bad, actually. Me and Lucy kind of… broke up."

"Oh god, Simon, I'm so sorry," Olivia told him as she hugged him.

"Not all that surprising," Alex muttered softly, but both of them heard it.

Olivia turned to glare at Alex who avoided he eyes and instead looked at Simon. "I'm sorry about that Simon. Weren't you engaged to her?"

"I was going to be. Actually the night I was going to ask her, she thought I had set up the diner to publically embarrass her and confront her, and she spilled the secret that she was cheating on me."

"I never really liked her all that much anyway," Olivia lied as she took another drink of coffee. "I know it doesn't seem it, but it'll get better. If any woman can't see what a great catch you are then that's their problem."

"It actually kind of already has. See that's the good news. My…" he cleared his throat and looked down at the floor before he continued. "My father always told me that no woman is worth holding onto if they're just going to sleep with anybody."

Olivia said nothing as Simon continued.

"But anyway, the good news is that I got a new job a while back at a hospital. Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as a pharmacy tech."

"That's great," Olivia said with another beam, Alex choosing to ignore the news.

"I know," he said, his smile growing bigger. And the better news is that I'm actually dating the dean of medicine now. Her names Lisa Cuddy, she's absolutely beautiful, has one daughter she adopted, and she's just perfect."

"I'm so happy for you," Olivia told him before she turned to Alex, raising her eyebrows, signaling her to make at least some type of comment in regards to the news.

"Terrific," Alex said dryly, ignoring Olivia's glower.

Olivia shook her head in disbelief before she turned back to Simon who pretended not to be fazed at Alex's treatment.

"So when do I get to meet her?"

"Soon, I hope. I was actually going to bring her to the wedding, if that's okay."

Although Olivia and Ale spoke at the same time, their words were completely opposite.

The "of course," spoken by the Olivia occurred at the same time as the "no," that came from Alex.

Both Olivia and Simon turned to look at Alex who was now staring at the floor.

Simon cleared his threat. "Well, Alex, I just figured since I planned to bring Lucy and Ben, then I could just bring Lisa and Rachel instead."

"You can," Olivia snapped, not at her brother but at her fiancée. "Bring whoever you want, Simon."

"Well it's just I don't want to change plans if you both disagree on it. I mean I could tell her not to come if-"

"She's coming!" Olivia growled, not turning from Alex. "And that's final."

Alex looked up from the floor and glared at Olivia. "You don't think I should have say in who comes to the wedding?"

"Not when it involves my only family, you don't."

"I'm not saying he can't come, I'm just saying I don't want to go and have to switch up the programs, and the place settings, and this and that, and-"

"I'm standing right here, you know," he said with a weak chuckle that both women ignored.

"If his girlfriend and her child can't come then your mother can't come."

Alex's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates. "You can't do that!"

"Watch me."

"I thought you two were finally getting along?"

"Things can change," Olivia said dryly, and Alex was unsure if those words she had just spoken had the double meaning she thought it had.

"Olivia-,"Alex began, but they were interrupted when the door opened and in walked Lila with her purse clutched to her side, Max walking in with at least ten bags of heavy groceries, slightly groaning under the weight.

At once Lila stopped mid step, making Max run into her.

"Don't drop the eggs, darling," Lila said, her eyes not leaving Simons form who offered her a nervous smile.

"Hi," he said as friendly as he could be.

Lila remained silent as she looked him over, eyeing everything from his curly mess of hair, to the unshaved beard, to the ragged looking jacket and jeans.

Simon looked from Olivia to Alex to Lila, hoping for some explanation on why this strange blond older looking woman was looking at him like a deranged lunatic.

Olivia cleared her throat and stood up and motioned to the man sitting beside her on the couch. "Simon, this is Alex's parents; Lila and Max Cabot. Lila, Max; this is my brother Simon Marsden."

Lila snapped towards Olivia, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Brother? Olivia, I thought your mother was-"

"Half brother… on my father's side," Olivia corrected.

"I thought you said that you never knew your father?" Lila asked a twinge of suspension in her voice.

Olivia, unsure of who the suspension was for, withheld the glare she so desperately wanted to give the woman. "I ran my DNA through the system and his name came up."

Lila gasped and took a step back. "You mean." Her voice lowered considerably as she spoke slower, "he's a C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L?"

"Pharmacist, actually," Simon corrected. "And it was just a fluke in the system."

"Of course, Mr. Marsden., no one is actually 'guilty', right?"

"In this case it's true," Olivia told her, an edge of hardness in her voice.

"On one account," Alex mumbled gaining looks from all others in the room.

Max cleared his throat loudly and the attention was diverted back to him. "Well I think it's wonderful to finally meet a member of Olivia's family," Max said with a nod and a smile as he set the groceries down.

He walked over to Simon and held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Simon."

"Nice to meet you too, Max."

Simon went to shake Max's hand, but before he could, Lila gently slapped Max's and away.

"No offense, Mr. Marsden, but the man has been to prison, Max! There's no telling where his hands have been!"

"I've never been to prison," Simon told her, clearly offended. "I volunteered my sample in a DNA drag net and it was never taken out of the system. Eight years of Pharmacy school, yes, but not prison."

"Because you were guilty."

"Because of some idiot who never took it out of the system!"

"Why don't we all just calm down, alright?" Max offered a little louder than usual as Lila opened her mouth to speak. "Darling," Max said as he turned to Lila who had opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately closed it upon hearing Max's words. "Why don't you go make us a pot of coffee, alright? Olivia, can you please help her?"

Olivia eyed Lila for a moment before she remembered the conversation she had before hand and nodded.

"Sure."

Lila and Olivia both walked into the kitchen and there was silence for a moment before Lila spoke.

"Does he or does he not have a police record?" Lila hissed and Olivia had to bite back her laughter at how alike Alex and Lila sounded when they tried to stay quiet.

"He doesn't," Olivia assured her. "The story is exactly how he tells it. Some idiot CSI left his DNA in the system in a volunteer DNA drag net."

"And he's never been in actual trouble with the law before?"

Olivia cleared her throat and looked down, the blue and white marble that made up their kitchen floor began swirling together. "Well… kind of."

"Kind of? What exactly is 'kind of'?" Lila asked, her voice rising.

"It's nothing. Some lunatic detective had a beef with him and falsely, let me say again, _falsely_, framed him for rape."

Once again, Lila's eyes seemed to bug out of her head. She clutched her heart and took several steps back. "He… he' a rapist?"

"No!" Olivia had to restrain herself form shouting at her, hating herself already for revealing that tidbit of information about Simon. "Lila, it was all just some crack pot cop trying to get back at him for what she thought he did to her sister."

"What did she think he did?"

"She thought he … raped her. But it turned out it was their father!" Olivia assured her, a surge of panic in her voice. "Simon never once hurt her, or any woman!"

"How do you know it was the father?"

"She admitted it was."

"When?"

Olivia took another deep breath before she continued, figuring on honesty being the best policy. "She went to his cabin in the woods to try to kill him, he grabbed the gun, it went off, he ended up actually shooting her, and they thought it was a hostage situation. I went, and she told me the whole story."

Lila sighed and looked out at him before turning back to Olivia, the frowning making her wrinkles all the more pronounced. "Is he a part of the wedding party?"

"He's one of my brides men."

Lila groaned, but kept her thoughts about the men being in the wedding party to herself for now.

"And he's the only family who acts decent to you?"

Olivia nodded. "Not just act decent, but we love each other, Lila. As sad as that is, my half brother who I found by chance, is the only family member who actually loves me."

Lila frowned and once more, Olivia was sure that the twitch in Lila's arm was meant to be a hug, but she cleared her throat and nodded.

"Thank you, Olivia. For being honest with me about him."

"You're welcome."

"And maybe once you marry Alexandra, that number will go up… possibly."

Olivia smiled at Lila who gave her a curt nod and half smile back before she walked back into the living room where Max and Simon were talking joyfully about something.

"Mom, where's the-, "Alex began, but Lila's frigid words cut him off.

"Mr. Marsden, I regret to say that I believe it would be much more prudent if you were not a part of the wedding party, much less attend the event."

"What?" Alex gasped, standing up in a hurry. "Mom, you can't-,"

"I'm sorry, Alexandra and Olivia, but I feel it's my duty as your mother to protect you. And by having a man here who was accused of rape not once but twice, and then shot a woman, a police officer, none the less, is not someone I would particularly enjoy spending time in such close proximity with my daughter."

"I'm sorry, he what?" Max asked in shock as he looked at Simon in confusion. "Simon, what is she talking about?"

"Nothing!" Olivia answered before Simon could defend himself. Olivia turned to Lila and shook her head "Lila, please. Don't do this," Olivia pleaded. "I explained to you-"

"What happened, yes you did. And I am sorry that I have to do this, but I have Alexandra's safety to think about. When you're a mother or a highly glorified baby sitter, whoever the adoption agency gives the child to, you'll understand."

"First off, when we decide to have children, that child will be equally ours no matter who gets pregnant."

"Oh my. I know people of limited means had a much less detailed education, but to not ever learn how a child is made... You see, Olivia, when a _man_ and a woman love one another-"

"One of us is getting artificially inseminated by a donor," Olivia growled. "And I told you that all of what happened was because of some insane cop. I can give you the number of an FBI agent who worked the case with me, his names Dean Porter and-"

"I'm sorry, Olivia. I know how much this must hurt right now, but trust me, it's for the best."

"How is it for the best?" Simon asked as he stood up followed by Max who kept a hand on his shoulder, and all three women were sure it wasn't to try to comfort him. "Olivia is my sister and you, someone I've known less than two minutes, are already saying I can't go to her wedding?"

"That seems about right," Lila said with a sickly sweet smile. "Thank you so much for understanding, Mr. Marsden."

"I was willing to go to jail for her, and she was willing to do the same for me," Simon snapped as he took a step towards her and Max quickly grabbed his other shoulder.

"Easy," Max told him, a hint of intense authority on the edge of his voice. "Let's not anyone do anything anyone's going to regret later on."

"See what I mean? He's an obvious danger," Lila said as she looked at Olivia but quickly glanced away, the hate in Olivia's eyes so intense, Lila was surprised that her blouse hadn't caught fire.

"He's coming to the wedding, he's part of the wedding party, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!"

"Olivia, really, must you curse?" Lila sighed as if reprimanding a five year old. "And I have a very simple way to solve this. Alexandra."

Alex groaned as all four set of eyes turned to her. "Yes, mother?"

"Do you feel that Simon should be allowed at this wedding?"

"Hang on!" both Olivia and Simon shouted at the same time.

"She hates me!" Simon yelled, followed by Olivia shouting, "Alex, don't do this!"

Alex looked between Olivia and Lila, uncertainty obvious in her face.

"Alex," Olivia whispered as she walked over to her and took her by the hands before kissing her on the lips and pulled away, leaning her head forward, running a hand through her hair, both ignoring the loud "How inappropriate!" screeched by Lila. "Alex, don't decide what she wants. I know you and Simon don't get along, but he's my family, Alex. He's the only family I have left."

Alex pulled away from Olivia, tears building up in her blue eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered faintly.

"Alex-"

"I'm sorry to both of you, but I don't really want Simon at the wedding."

One could have heard a pin drop a mile away after her statement.

"Alex, how could you?" Max breathed in disbelief.

Olivia looked at her for a moment, her eyes wide, filled with betrayal, her brown eyes filled with tears.

"You see? All's well that ends well. Now, Mr. Marsden, if you want, please feel free to E-mail a request for pictures. I'm sure that Olivia will be more than willing to send you some."

No," Olivia snapped, wiping the tears away, unable to look at Alex. "I'm not going to E-mail him any pictures of the wedding because there's not going to be a wedding."

Alex whipped her head towards Olivia, her eyes wide. "What? Olivia-"

"Save it, Alex. I'm done," Olivia spat. "You know, alright you KNOW!" she screamed, and at once Max left Simon's side to race over to Olivia who began to storm over to Alex. "How much he means to me and you say he can't come, just because your bitch of a mother said he can't?"

Lila gasped in shock. "Now really, Olivia! I thought we were finally starting to get along."

"We were," Olivia said simply before turning back to Alex.

"Olivia, please!" Alex pleaded desperately. "I don't want you to leave. Not again. I love you."

Olivia glowered at her for a moment. "If you really loved me as much as you say you do, then you wouldn't have agreed with her about this. Alright you just turned my brother, my only family, away because your mother is being an idiot!"

"You know people who resort to such rude insults usually don't have a valid argument."

"Oh go shove it, Lila!"

Alex raced up to Olivia and made a move to kiss her, but Olivia jerked away, looking at Alex with nothing but disgust. "Leave me alone, Alex."

The two lovers looked at one another for a moment before Olivia wrenched out of Max's hold and stormed over to the coat rack.

"Come on, Simon, let's go."

"Olivia, wait!" Alex begged as she rushed over to her. "I'm sorry, okay. He can come!"

"It's too late, Alex," Olivia told her as she took several shaky breaths as she grabbed her keys.

Olivia turned to face her and at once looked away, the pain on Alex's face too much to handle. "This was a mistake."

"No it wasn't. Nothing with you is a mistake."

"You need to learn to stand up to her, Alex. Okay, I don't just want the passionate, hard headed, amazing Alex only half the time. I need her all the time. And when you're around your mother, you change. And I don't want that. I'm sorry, but I need to do this."

With a final kiss on the lips, Olivia wrenched open the door and slammed it besides her, Simon following, pausing in the door way.

"It was nice to meet you all."

"Get out!" Alex screamed at him, and before she had a chance to pick up something to throw at him, he closed it just in time.

"Alexandra, maybe it's for the best," Lila said softly. " I mean if someone is going to react that strongly to something as small as that then-"

"Mom," Alex growled, not turning around to look at her, visibly shaking from the anger. "Leave me alone, _now!"_

"Come on, Lila," Max said, but his voice held nowhere near the amount of tenderness it usually did when addressing his wife. "Let's leave Alex alone for a few minutes."

Before Max had steered Lila out of the room, Alex slid down the door, the tears rolling down her face, her sobs shaking her body.

Please review, and don't forget; Bellatrix_w_89twitter dot com and lilacabottwitter dot com are two very, very, VERY awesome twitter sites you should be following. And oh yeah, the 20 review thing still stands :)


	7. Chapter 7

I own no one but my own people.

A/N: Martina McBride owns 'Wrong Again', Bon Jovi owns 'You Give Love A Bad Name', and Eve owns 'Love Is Blind'.

Hope all you out there who celebrate Easter really enjoyed their own Easter. To all others, I hope you had an awesome Sunday :)

To AO SVUlover, I gave you that before I had it all planned out, and I realized that just wouldn't work, so I changed it up a little. Still hope you enjoy it though :)

SVU Squad room, June 3rd, 3:45 PM

"I knew this time I had finally found someone who I could build my life around, be a lover and a friend! After all my heart that put me through, I knew that it was safe was you! What we had would never end! Wrong again."

"Elliot, turn that channel," Olivia pleaded as she sat at her desk, trying to concentrate on her paperwork. "And no country. It's... her favorite type.

"Why are you working here anyway?" Munch asked as he looked up from his own paperwork to look at Olivia. "I thought Cragen gave you a few weeks off?"

"I didn't want to drink alone at Elliot's," she muttered as she hastily flipped though her paperwork. "And can we please change the station?"

"Anything you want, Liv," Elliot said with a heartwarming smile that was meant to comfort his best friend as he turned he radio on his desk to another pre set channel.

"Whoooa! You're a loaded gun! Whoooa! There's nowhere to run! No one can save me, the damage is done! Shot through the heart! And you're to blame! You give love a bad name! I play my part, and you play your game! You give love a bad name!"

"How about rap? There songs are hardly ever about breaking up," Fin offered as Elliot hastily changed the station once more, ignoring Olivia's scowl.

"Floss like you possess her, tellin' me to mind my business! That it was her life, and stay the hell out it! I tried and said just for him I keep an empty clip! Love is blind! And it'll take over your mind, what you think is love, is truly not, you need to elevate and find! Love is blind! And it'll take over your mind, what you think is love, is truly not, you need to elevate and find! "

"I'm going to go get drunk now," Olivia said dryly as she got up from her desk and stormed off.

"Olivia, wait!" Elliot called as he ran after her.

He caught up to her just outside the station house, where she was taking shuddering breaths, hastily wiping the tears away.

"You alright?"He asked softly, getting a head shaking in reply.

"It'll take a while, but you'll get over it," he told her softly as he rubbed her shoulders.

Olivia finally faced him and ran a shaking hand through her hair.

"It's not fair, though! I broke it off with Alex! She's the one who is supposed to be feeling miserable, depressed, and pathetic right now! I should be feeling relieved!"

"You loved her, Liv," Elliot told her. "I would be more surprised if you didn't feel like crap."

Olivia was silent for a moment before she looked dead straight into Elliot's eyes. "If I loved her so much, then why did I leave her?"

"Because you finally came to your senses. Okay, she didn't respect you, she could care less about what you wanted at _your_ wedding, she didn't care about throwing out your only family member out of it, she hit you, she lied to you about running for the Senate, it took you almost dying-," Elliot was forced to compose himself as the horrible accident that almost killed his best friend re entered his mind. "It took you almost dying in order for her to tell her parents the truth about your two's relationship. She's just not good enough for you, Olivia."

Olivia took a shuddering breath, each of Elliot's accusations about her former lover cutting through her like shards of glass. "Maybe her not being good enough for me isn't the problem. Maybe it's the other way around."

Elliot narrowed his eyes at the mere thought that Olivia was even a hair below Alex. "You're wrong. Alright anyone; man, woman, gay, straight, bi; would be unbelievably happy to be with you. What have you done to Alex besides love her? Even when she didn't deserve it? You are a thousand times better than her any day of the week."

"Well think about it, Elliot. I'm forty five, she's thirty seven, she has that blond hair blue eyed look all girls would kill to have, I'm a brunette with brown eyes that normal people change to blond hair and blue eyes, she's rich, I'm working class, she's smart, funny, wonderful, amazing, and I'm just me. How the hell can you say I'm better than her?" Olivia chuckled sadly. "How can you say anyone is better than her?"

Elliot was silent at Olivia's words for a moment. He looked at her for a moment before he turned her head towards him, forcing her to meet his eyes once more. "You are," his voice was now only a harsh whisper. "The most amazing woman I have ever met. You are completely and utterly beautiful, brilliant, kind, loyal, honest, brave… Olivia, women would kill to be you. And if you were straight, I promise you I would not have given up until you said yes to going out with me after the divorce was final."

"And if I was straight," Olivia breathed. "I would have said yes the first time you asked me."

A moment of silence passed before both detectives looked away from one another and took a step away from one another, red hot blushes rising up in both their faces.

"Let's not do that again, alright?" Elliot said as he looked straight ahead in front of him.

"Deal," Olivia told him as she too looked dead ahead at the street in front of her. "Or tell anyone about what just happened."

"Gotcha."

There was another moment of silence that passed over the detectives before Elliot spoke. "So do you want me to tell Cragen we're leaving for the day?"

Olivia shook her head, finally mustering the courage to face him again. "I need to work. Take my mind off things. Thanks though."

"No problem."

The two detectives smiled at one another before Elliot and Olivia walked back into the precinct.

They took their respective seats and Olivia couldn't help but smile when she heard what Munch and Fin had put on the radio.

"Next on ESPN radio!" the announcer read, "how the Bills completely destroyed the Steelers in last night's game with an end result of 67 to 14!"

"Figured there wouldn't be too many break up songs on here," Munch said with an unusually kind smile.

"Too bad I lost fifty bucks on that game last night," Fin mumbled.

"Gotta learn to bet on a winning team," Elliot said with a smirk. "Speaking of fifty bucks; Munch, Liv, lunch is on me today."

"What about me?" Fin asked.

"Steelers fans don't get lunch bought for them," Elliot said with another cocky smile.

Olivia managed a weak smile, thanking the lord that she was with such good people.  
The two partners looked at one another for a moment before Elliot looked over Olivia's shoulder. "Can I help you?"  
Olivia looked over her shoulder as well and her eyes widened at who had walked into their precinct.  
"Olivia?" the woman asked in confusion as she walked over to the desks.  
Olivia forced a smile onto her lips as the woman who Olivia thought she would never see again walked closer. "Hi, Bree."

"Oh wow, you actually remember me?" Bree said in amazement as she stood there in the middle of the squad room.

Her brown hair was pulled into a neat bun, with just the most subtle hints of makeup on her olive toned face. Her uniform fitting her perfectly and Olivia scolded herself as she gave her a quick glance up and down.

"You're kind of hard to forget," Olivia said with a smirk.

"Trust me, Olivia, you're much harder to forget then I am."

"I highly doubt that."

The two women looked at one another before Olivia cleared her throat. "So what are you doing here?"

"I have some reports from the 3-9 ordered by a Detective Totoola,"

"That'll be Tutuola," Fin said with a nod.

Bree walked over to him and handed him the files before turning back to Olivia.

"Liv, you wanna introduce us?" Elliot asked as he looked between the two women, and Olivia could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"Oh I'm sorry. Guys, this is officer Bree… I'm sorry I never actually caught your last name,"

"Collins and truth be told I never got your last name either."

"It's Benson."

"Olivia Benson. It fits."

"Thanks… I guess."

Elliot looked between the two women, raising his eyebrow in confusion. "So how do you two know one another?"

"We actually don't know each other," Bree said with a laugh that Olivia was forced to remind herself to breathe. "We met once about six months ago in a convenience store, where I believe you told me that 'I'm perfect' but that I wasn't perfect because 'I wasn't Alex'."

Bree's eyes were drawn to Olivia's engagement ring that she still had on. "And judging by that ring, I would say that same excuse is going to be used again."

"She actually just broke up with her fiancée this morning!" Elliot said with an enthusiastic nod, "so she's actually a single woman."

At this news Bree's eyes seemed to light up. "Really?"

Olivia turned towards Elliot and began glaring daggers at him. "Yes really." She turned back to Bree and forced herself to not look over the woman in her uniform, but then found it just as hard to turn away from the sultry gray green eyes. "And I'm… I'm sorry, Bree, but it's too soon."

Bree gave a sad smile and nodded. "Sure, I get it."

Olivia forced herself to turn away from the pain in Bree's eyes and glared at Elliot for making her hurt this woman.

There was silence in the squad room for a moment before Bree spoke. "Well anyway, I got to get going," Bree said with a hint of embarrassment in her tone. "The lieutenant will probably pitch a fit if I'm not back in time. Maybe I'll see you around in another six months, Olivia."

"Maybe," Olivia said with a smile that Bree returned, causing Olivia to momentarily forget how to breathe once more.

With a quaint little nod, Bree left the squad room, and Olivia allowed herself a tiny glance as she walked away.

"Go ask her out!" all three men snapped at her as Bree rounded the corner.

Olivia shook her head. "No. It's too soon. Hell I still legally live with Alex, alright? I don't want to go out right now. Maybe in a few months, but…"

"No, you're going out with her now," Elliot told her using the same tone he used to get perps to confess.

"But I don't want to."

"Yes you do. You're just afraid of truly falling out of love with Alex and of getting your heart broken again."

Olivia groaned loudly and looked back down at her paperwork. "No, Elliot."

"Olivia, look at me."

Olivia dutifully obeyed his wishes and looked up at him. "What?"

Elliot was silent for a moment before he finally spoke. "You only get one try at a second chance, Liv. Don't let her slip away."

Olivia looked at him for another moment before she got up from her chair and walked over to the elevators where Bree was still waiting for one to go down.

"They're slow this time of night," Olivia told her with a weak chuckle.

Bree turned towards her and grinned at her. "Hey, Olivia. Did you need something else?"

Olivia took a deep breath and stepped closer to her, her hands suddenly clammy, finding it much harder to breathe then it had been two seconds before. "Kind of. Bree… do you want to maybe… you know… go out with me… tonight?"

Bree looked at her for a moment before she nodded, a beaming smile lighting up her face, making the forty four year old woman appear ten years younger. "Sure. I'd love to.

Olivia's whole face lit up in surprise. "Really?"

Bree laughed and nodded. "Don't look too surprised."

Olivia still could not tear the look of shock from her face. "Alright. I mean it's just... okay."

Bree laughed once again before the elevator doors opened up. Bree gave a final grin towards Olivia and stepped in them. "Meet me at Marcos on 73rd, 8 a clock."

"Marcos at eight," Olivia repeated with a tiny nod.

With a final smile from Bree, the elevator door shut, leaving Olivia standing there completely and utterly shocked.

Olivia and Alex's brownstone, June 3rd, 3:45 PM

"I called Michael a while ago," Lila told Alex who was sitting on the couch in silence, tears still running down her face. "He's coming over. Said he has a surprise for you."

Alex stayed silent, looking down at her engagement right, rolling it between her other hand.

Lila noticed and went over to her and held Alex's hand in her own. "Its better this way, Alexandra," she whispered softly, "she doesn't deserve you."

"I think you got that sentence mixed up," Alex sniffed as she wiped the tears from her face with a tissue.

Lila shook her head. "You're telling her what you want, and she left you. Just because she doesn't agree with your decision, she left. What kind of a relationship is that, Alexandra?"

"I was so horrible to her," Alex whispered. "I love her, but I'm so bad for her."

"Well, darling, she's poor, old, a liberal… You're a thousand times better than her in every sense of the word. "

"How the hell can you say that? Olivia's smart, funny, wonderful, amazing, and I'm just me. How the hell can you say I'm better than her? How can you say anyone is better than her?"

"Because it's the truth, Alexandra, you just don't want to see it that way yet."

Alex shook her head, biting her bottom lip, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. "I screwed up so many times, but she always brushed it off. She always forgave me. I just never thought that 'this' fight will be the next one. I always thought she would always forgive me."

"And you deserve her forgiveness, Alexandra. Alright, Olivia doesn't get the right to say, 'I'm leaving you' every time you mess up a little. That's wrong of her to do, and deep down, you know it's wrong. But she's convinced you for so long that it's her fault that she acts like that, and then tells you it's her fault she hurts you."

Lila placed a finger under her chin and turned her towards her, forcing her to look in her eyes. "That's abuse, Alexandra. And Cabot women are far too important and powerful to settle for abusers."

With the slightest touch, Lila tugged at Alex's engagement ring, and Alex was too surprised that it came off that easy to do anything to stop her.

Lila held up the ring to Alex's face, the sunlight shining through the heart shaped diamond, leaving tiny rainbows on the blonde's face, the brown and blue sapphire glistening in the light as well, causing cascades of color to be reflected onto Alex. "Olivia doesn't get the privilege of having you wear this. She no longer has that control over you."

Alex stayed silent as Lila slid the ring into her pocket and smiled at Alex.

Alex nodded and took a shuddering breath, finally looking away from Lila's face, looking down at the floor, the colors blending together before her.

The sound of the doorbell ringing caused Alex to look away from the floor and look towards the door.

Lila got up from the couch and went over to it and opened it, a huge, beaming smile on her face.

"Michael, please come in."

Alex withheld a groan, him wanting to be the last person on earth she talked to him right now.

Michael brushed by Lila and sat down next to Alex, unable to conceal the grin on his face. "Oh, Alexandra, I'm so sorry about what happened."

It took all of Alex's strength not to roll her eyes at his words. "Thanks, Michael."

"But look at the bright side. Now you'll be able to concentrate on your political aspirations, and you'll be able to find a man who won't hinder you unusable."

"That's very true, Alexandra," Lila said as she sat down in the arm chair nearest Alex.

"I'm still a lesbian. I'm just not with that particular woman."

Michaels face fell, but almost just as quick, it was back to the grin that was on his face.

"Oh come now, Alexandra, don't be like that. Look… you've just lost the 'woman' you say you loved right? So what's the difference if you date another woman, or another man? It'll just be for publicity in any case, right?"

Alex stayed silent, trying to find the most polite way to tell him to shut up

But Michael took her silence as her agreement, and his grin grew even wider as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number on sped dial.

"I knew you would see it my way."

"I'm not seeing-"

"Yes, it's fine to come in now," Michael told the person on the other line.

He hung up the phone just as quick as he had dialed and turned to Alex, still smiling.

"Alexandra, I have found the most perfect man for you! He's a graduate of Harvard with a MA in Political Science and law, he's thirty seven, very good looking, and has political aspirations as well. He's very wealthy and comes from a long line of wealth, and he's a conservative republican. He also doesn't know you're gay, so if you could just sweep that little miniscule detail under the rug, that would be amazing. "

"Michael, I don't want to date anyone right now. And you mentioned nothing about his personality. "

Michael scoffed and rolled her eyes as if Alex had said something unintelligent. "No one cares about personality when they're dating someone. Do you honestly think that Olivia looked at you and saw 'oh there's a nice, funny, kind woman who I could have fun with on a date and eventually grow to love because she's so amazing.' No, she saw NYU graduate, rich, good looking, with a great law career with political aspirations."

"You're wrong," Alex growled, narrowing her eyes at him. "Olivia didn't care about-"

"He's here!" Lila said gleefully as the doorbell interrupted Alex.

Alex sighed in contempt as Michael literally jumped off the couch and went over to the door where he threw it open.

"Please, please come in!"

Michael stepped aside and Alex's mystery man stepped inside their home, and both Alex and Lila gasped in shock.

"Edward," Alex breathed as her eyes looked over the seemingly perfect man.

Nothing about him had changed at all. His hair still looked like it had been professionally done, his skin pale and flawless, his eyes still looked like two pools of crystal clear water, and of course, he looked stunningly gorgeous.

Edward smiled at her, showing off two rows of perfectly white teeth. "Hello, Alexandra. You look just as beautiful as I remember."

Alex stayed silent as she looked from Michael, to Edward, to Lila, who looked in just as much shock as Alex

"Edward is another client of mine," Michael explained as he clapped Edward on the broad shoulder, "when Lila told me that you and your boyfriend broke up, I knew he would be just the pick me up. And when he told me he knew you before hand, I knew it was fate that I got you two together."

Alex stayed silent as Edward walked over and sat besides her, throwing his arm around her shoulder, and Alex hid a cringe of disgust as he pulled her closer to her.

Lila cleared her throat loudly and stood up, her eyes moving between Alex and Edward.

"Mr. Lancaster… didn't I tell you last time you were in my daughter's home to leave and never come back?"

Edward cleared his throat and stood up, a look of sorrow on his perfected face. "Yes, I remember, Lillian. And I do want to offer you and Alexandra my deepest sympathies for using such language in your home, as well as offering my views when I know so many can be against them. After I left that day, I felt so terrible. Really, Lillian, I had no idea what came over me that day."

Lila stayed silent for a moment, and Alex prayed that she was just thinking of a way on how to politely tell him to leave.

"Do you still have those views on homosexuals?" Lila asked as she or do you understand and fully knowledge that they are just as much Gods children, and are loved just as much as a straight woman or man?"

Edward smiled at her and nodded. "I have seen the truth, Lila, and I know that those people are just as worthy of his love as the rest of us."

What Lila didn't see, however, was his crossed fingers behind his back.

Alex opened her mouth to say something, but Lila clapped her hands together in joy and smiled at him. "Well that's absolutely wonderful, Edward. Please have a seat."

"Thank you, Lillian."

Edward once again sat right next to Alex and pulled her closer, and Alex had to withhold the gag that came from smelling his expensive cologne.

Alex closed her eyes and forcer herself to remember Olivia's inexpensive perfume that smelled like mangos and oranges.

The mere thought of it caused Alex to smile and it drove away the horrible musty smell that came from Edward for a brief moment, and at once, Alex was thrown into a spew of memories of Olivia pressing up against her, the scent lingering on them as they laid in bed together afterwards; her hands leaving a trail of the seductive scent down Alex's body; the strength of it almost overtaking her completely when Alex kissed that one spot right behind Olivia's ear that drove the brunette wild, making her grab Alex off her feet and slam her onto the bed, the two woman ripping one another's clothes off.

"So anyway," Edward interrupted, and at once the memories were shoved harshly away. "Alexandra, I heard that some horrible man broke up with you this morning, and that you're quite heartbroken about it. So I was wondering if you would like to go out with me tonight… get your mind off things. Tonight at Chappell's on 42nd, seven thirty?"

Alex sighed, both in contempt and anger for Michael getting her in this mess. "No offense, Edward, but I really don't quite feel ready to-"

Michael cleared his throat and coughed, barley masking the words 'good publicity'.

Alex sighed and looked from Lila, who was nodding eagerly back to Edward who was looking at her almost angry, like she had no right to take this long to answer.

Alex cleared her throat and couldn't help cut chuckle sadly as the last encounter Olivia and Edward had where she had threatened his for just having his hand on her back.

Finally, and after another encouraging nod from Lila, Alex sighs and nods. "Fine... I'll meet you there."

With another grin of brilliant white teeth, Edward nodded. "I'll be waiting eagerly for you, Alexandra."

Alex managed a weak grimace of a smile, and Edward got up from the couch and cleared his throat and gave a tiny bow to Lila.

"Lillian, Alexandra, such a pleasure."

With another bow towards Alex, he turned towards Michael. "Shall we go now?"

Michael nodded and with a wink towards Alex, he gave her a curt nod. "See you later, Alexandra, Lila…"

The two men left at the same time, and Alex sighed as she leaned back against the couch, unable to hide the tears that fell from her eyes.

Lila looked down at the floor before looking back up at Alex. "He's a great catch, Alexandra… he really is."

Alex said nothing as Lila gave her a sad smile before she got up and went over to her and hugged her tight, running a hand through her hair. "It'll be alright, Alexandra. I promise. You'll get over her soon enough. This pain doesn't last forever"

As Alex hugged her mother back, she couldn't help but thinking that her mother had never been more wrong in her life.

Please Review


	8. Chapter 8

I own no one.

A/N Special shout out to Rach5, who has been waiting patiently for some Max and all his awesomeness so I hope you enjoy and are not disappointed :)

Alex and Olivia's Brownstone, June 3rd, 7:45 PM

Lila swirled the amber liquor in her class for a moment before she slowly took a drink of it.

"What's your poison?" an all too familiar voice asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

Lila turned to the voice, but didn't even attempt a half smile as she looked at her husband of thirty nine years. "Brandy. Do you want a glass?"

Max shook his head and walked over to the table and sat down beside her and looked at her for a moment as Lila took another small sip. "You know I don't believe I've seen you drink since your mother's funeral ten years ago, and that ended with you having three broken bones and spending the night in prison."

Lila shrugged and took another sip. "I'm well over twenty one, darling; I'm perfectly fine to have a glass of brandy once in a blue moon. Plus you know just as well as I do that that night wasn't my fault and that it was self defense."

"I'm not saying that it was your fault by any means, and I'm not stopping you from having _one _drink. I'm just wondering what on earth could have you this upset to have a drink."

Lila sighed and set the glass down on the table and looked down at it, once again swirling the brown liquid around.

Max was silent as Lila pulled out Alex's ring out of her pocket and threw it onto the table. "I was surprised how nice the ring actually was. It's from JD Wardens."

Lila sighed and took another drink from the glass, shuddering as it burned her throat. "She doesn't deserve Alexandra."

"I think you have that sentence mixed up," Max said as he took the ring and began examining it.

Lila turned to Max and narrowed her eyes at him. "How on earth can you say that? Alexandra's your daughter, and was hurt by that… that woman one too many times."

"Wait… you're saying Alex was hurt by her? Lila, how many times has Alex lied to her? Made her feel like nothing? She's sided with you on almost every single aspect of the wedding despite what Olivia wanted, and kicked her only family member out of the wedding just because you said so. When you told me in the car on the way to the store that you actually felt sorry for her because of her family situation.

"Well I didn't know the only family that liked her was a convict!" Lila snapped. "Good lord, Max, he's been accused of rape, not to mention arrested of it, and he was going to be standing right beside our daughter! I was not going to allow that to happen! You're a judge; you know how violent and dangerous those people are!"

"Olivia told us the whole story of that. He was framed, and it was just because of a mistake that he was even in the system."

Lila glared at him for a moment before turning away, taking another drink of the Brandy. "You're completely missing the point!"

"How?"

Lila scoffed and rolled her eyes to the heavens. "Well it's obvious!"

"Not particularly."

"Darling, you're really beginning to annoy me."

"Well seeing as how we've been married for almost forty years, I would hope I would know what buttons to push to annoy you," he chuckled.

Lila sighed and looked down at the floor. "I just… she isn't _right _for her, Max."

"You mean she isn't right for you."

Lila turned to him and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "What on earth do you mean?"

"Come on, Lila, you've hated her from the start."

Lila scoffed as if he had said something offensive. "I have been nothing but nice to Olivia since I met her!"

Max laughed in disbelief, "I worked in politics and I've never heard a bigger lie then that from anyone! You hate her because she isn't what you had planned for Alex. You pictured Alex being with someone exactly like _Edward Lancaster_, and it irks you beyond anything that she would rather have a working class liberal detective with no political ties whatsoever who loves her more than anything because of her personality, then a rich conservative who could probably get her a spot in the Oval office tomorrow if he made enough phone calls who loves her for her family name and her inheritance."

"Is that so wrong?" Lila cried on the verge of tears, "to want your daughter to be happy with someone who can support her? Who can help her in her career? Who won't be a complete hindrance to her when she tried to further herself? Olivia is going to ruin her, Max! As much as you hate to admit that, their marriage will get her ridiculed within the community she's trying to gain access to! Forget the fact that she's a beautiful woman trying to infiltrate a man's world, but a gay woman who's married to another gay woman… Its career suicide and I will not stand by and let my daughter throw away the thing she has wanted since she was five because of some _cop_! I won't do it!"

"Lila," Max said softly, reaching out for her hand, but Lila snatched it away.

"Don't 'Lila' me! I love Alexandra more than anything on this earth, and I know how bad she wants to be in politics, and she's giving it all away because of Olivia, and it's not fair to her!"

"You're right. It's not fair. It's not fair that this country you can be ridiculed and rejected because of who you love. But Alex can't help what she is or who she loves. And it's her choice, politics or love, and I feel so sorry for her that she choose the first option because she will never find as amazing a woman as Olivia who will love her back with even the inkling that Olivia did, and probably still does."

Lila sighed and looked down at the table, ignoring Max's touch as he rubbed her shoulders "I just… I know that being in politics, and living a 'normal' life will make her happy."

"But Olivia will make her happier."

Lila bit her bottom lip and Max reached over and kissed her forehead, running his hand through her silky light blond hair. "I know you're just doing what you think is best for her," he whispered as he continued to stroke her hair, leaning up against her. "But Olivia will make her happier than her job or Edward ever will."

"I want to believe you so bad," Lila said as she closed her eyes. "For mine and Alexandra's sake. But I just can't see how she would ever be happy remaining an ADA for the rest of her life when she could have everything if she just gave her up."

Max was silent for a moment before he spoke. "If someone told you could have everything you ever wanted and more if you just gave me up and married someone you seemed to loathe who didn't love you, would you do it?"

"Of course not," Lila said with a roll of the eyes, as if it were the most obvious answer on earth. "I already have everything I want with you and Alexandra. Except if the man was Richard Gere. Then I may have to think about it a bit longer."

Max chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around her, and Lila leaned back into his embrace. "You know something, Lila?"

"What, darling?"

"You amaze me sometimes."

**June 3rd, Marcos on 73****rd****, 8:00 PM**

Olivia took a deep breath as she entered the bar, straightening out the dark red spaghetti strapless dress that she had bought that day with a minor dip and an inch above the knee, not wanting to go back to Alex's and her- Alex's Brownstone, to get an dress, her brown hair straight with just a touch of wave with a pair of three inch heels to match the dress.

Olivia looked around the upscale crowded bar and quickly spotted Bree sitting at the bar, and Olivia's breath was taken away as she looked at her.

Her hair was in curls that cascaded down her back, and she wore a black halter that came down just below the knee, her grayish green eyes popping out against the dark fabric of the dress and the smokiness of her makeup, a pair of black open toed heels making her long legs seem to go on forever.

Olivia finally shook herself out of shock and cleared her throat, ready to go over to her, before she felt something on her hand.

She looked down at her hand and in took a sharp breath as he eyes landed on her engagement ring.

Olivia went to take it off, but hesitated when she took a hold of it, almost as if a shock had run through her body the moment she touched it.

Olivia took a deep breath before she pulled it off quick, her hand instantly feeling different without it.

She ran her hand over her finger and sighed, the absence of the ring making her feel emptier with every passing moment.

"But," Olivia reminded herself, "You're here on a date with a beautiful woman. It's not fair to her to have to be looking at the reminder you've just broken up with someone you promised to spend the rest of your life with."

She slipped the ring into her purse, and with another deep breath, Olivia walked over to Bree, putting on the best face she could.

When Bree spotted her, her smile broke out into a huge smile and she got up at once to greet her.

"You look amazing," Bree said as she pulled out the chair for Olivia who had to hide a blush.

"Thank you," Olivia said as she sat down, Bree sitting right beside her. "You look... absolutely breathtaking."

Bree laughed, leaving Olivia temporally breathless. "Thanks. So do you want a drink?"

"Sure, I'll have a glass of Merlot," Olivia said as she put her purse beside her, wrapping it twice around her ankle.

"One of my favorites," Bree said with a smile as she beckoned the bartender over with her hand. "But nothing beats a Cabernet."

"Really? To me Cabernet is way too sweet."

"It is sweet, but you have to admit, sweetness is becoming harder to come by, so I say get it when you can."

Olivia let out a chuckle and nodded. "Yeah. There seems to be a lot of bitterness going around in this city. Not with me, though. Just with... other people," Olivia trailed off, feeling a hot blush rise in her cheeks.

Bree gave her a sympathetic smile and opened her mouth to speak before the bartender approached them.

"What can I get you two lovely ladies?"

"Two glasses of Merlot, please."

The bartended nodded and went away to get their drinks, and when they were alone again, Bree turned back to Olivia.

"So, how long have you lived in Manhattan?"

"All my life, actually," Olivia answered.

"So you're a native New Yorker?"

"Yeah. And trust me; we drive a lot better then what the stereotype says."

Bree laughed, once again sending butterflies fluttering in Olivia's stomach. "I'll keep that in mind when I'm on the road from now on. So are you Mets or Yankees?"

"Oh true Yankee fan without a doubt," Olivia said with a smile. "And you being from Texas is a-"

"Red Sox fan," she admitted with a sheepish grin, and both women swore they heard the entire bar growl at the admission.

Olivia gasped in fake horror and clutched her heart. "Red Sox? Really? Oh, Bree, say it isn't so!"

Bree nodded. "My grandparents live in Boston, so every time we would visit, he would take me and my sister to Fenway, and I just became a Sox fan."

Olivia shook her head and chuckled softly. "Wow. And I thought a democrat dating a republican was the worst I could do. But a Red Sox and a Yankees fan? That's an even bigger rivalry romance then Romeo and Juliet."

Olivia instantly regretted her words as she felt a hole begin in the middle of her chest, painfully squeezing her heart.

"Which one are you?" Bree asked as the bartender finally set their drinks down in front of them, glaring furiously at Bree. "I know they say not to get into politics on the first date, so if that offends you please feel free to tell me to shut up."

Olivia shook her head and took a sip of the wine. "It's fine. But I was the democrat in that equation to answer your question."

"Good to know. God, I would have hated to have been in your house when you two got into a debate."

Olivia felt like that same thing that had punched through her chest had ripped her heart out, the pain almost unbearable as she nodded. "She was way more into politics than me so I knew never to argue with her, so me and her actually didn't have all that many debates."

Bree laughed, and Olivia let out a weak chuckle and looked down at the bar for a moment before she looked back up at Bree. "So how long have you wanted to be a cop?"

"As far back as I can remember. I've just always wanted to help people, bring justice to my town, hopefully work with a partner who looked half as good as Farah Fawcett who wore the same outfits."

Olivia laughed and she felt the pain in her heart begin to lesson. "I was much more of a Daisy Dukes kind of woman."

Bree laughed along with her and took another sip of the wine. "Well with shorts like that, who wasn't a Daisy Dukes kind of woman? Hell, I think the first time I looked at her is when I realized I was a lesbian. So why did you want to get shot at every other day and wear that oh so flattering uniform?"

"Ever since I knew the story of my father."

"Which is what?"

Olivia offered a half hearted smile. "A story saved for at least a tenth date."

Bree let out a low whistle. "That serious, huh?"

Olivia nodded and forced another smile. "Yeah."

Bree shook her head, a grin slowly creeping onto her face. "You're a mysterious woman, Olivia. Usually I just need two minutes with someone to know them, but you're very difficult for me to read."

"I'm… sorry?" Olivia offered, causing Bree to let out another laugh.

"Don't apologize. We all need a bit of mystery in our lives. It makes things so much more… interesting."

Olivia suddenly couldn't remember how to breathe as Bree smirked at her, uncrossing and crossing her legs again, ever so gently rubbing one of her legs against Olivia's.

"So," Bree spoke, causing Olivia to break out of her trance. "Do you mind me asking you something a little personal?"

"Go ahead," Olivia told her, her heart pounding so hard against her chest, she was sure Bree could hear it.

"Well, and again, please feel free to tell me to shut up," Bree reminded her with an almost shy smile. "Why did you break off your engagement with this Alex woman?"

Olivia felt the same pain she had felt minutes ago return in crashing waves, and she bit her lip and looked down at the bar, unable to look at Bree.

"I'm sorry!" Bree told her with sincerity, frowning at her own words. "It was rude of me to bring it up, especially when it just happened so recently."

"This afternoon to be exact," Olivia muttered, trying her hardest not to sound venomous at the question.

Bree groaned and put her head in her hands. "I feel like an idiot. Olivia, I'm so sorry. I mean I've lost someone I thought I'd be together with forever as well. I mean we weren't engaged, but I know what that's like. I didn't mean to make you upset."

Olivia took a few deep breaths before she looked back up at Bree who was looking almost anxious, as if she were waiting for Olivia to shout at her.

But instead, Olivia surprised them both when a small grin appeared on her face. "Its fine, you were just curious. But how about we save that story for another time?"

Bree's face seemed to light up at her words. "So even after me doing one of the stupidest things I've probably ever done on a first date, you're still giving me a chance?"

Olivia nodded and forced her smile to grow. "Yeah… I am. You're definitely worth another chance."

Bree's smile seemed to grow before she held out her hand, and Olivia looked down at it for a moment.

"You've already gone this far," she thought to herself as she took a breath and slowly slid her hand into Bree's.

**Chappell's on 42****nd**** St, 7:31 PM:**

Alex walked into the restaurant and took several deep breaths before she went up to the man who was behind the wooden podium, straightening out her black dress.

"Welcome to Chappell's, how may I help you," he asked, his voice snooty, his head held so high in the air, Alex was wondering if he was looking at something at the ceiling.

"Alexandra Cabot, I'm meeting an Edward Lancaster here at seven thirty," she told him, hiding the cringe in her voice.

The man sighed as if he had been asked to decipher ancient ruins and looked down at the book, lazily flipping through each page until he landed on the correct one.

"Ahh yes, your party is already here and waiting for you, let me show you to your table."

He clapped his hands twice and at once, a man rushed over and almost bowed to her as he led her towards the center of the dining room where Edward was waiting, looking at his watch in annoyance before he picked his head up and spotted her.

He stood up and Alex could see that he had on one of his best suits, looking just as seemingly perfect as he had looked earlier in the day.

Alex looked at him for a moment, not even attempting a smile and walked over to him.

"I thought I was going to have to wait all night for you," he said with a chuckle as they both sat down.

Alex glanced at her watch and then looked back up at him. "It's only 7:31."

"And the agreement was to meet at 7:30. You're still one minute late, Alexandra."

"One minute isn't that long," she argued, already wanting to bolt out the door.

"In the world of politics and law, it is though. I mean, we both went to law school; we both know about keeping and meeting deadlines.

Alex sighed and instead of arguing with him, she simply nodded. "Fine, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Just see that it doesn't."

Alex glowered furiously at him but he had picked up the wine menu and was looking it over and had missed the look.

"Would you prefer red or white, Alexandra?"

"It's Alex," she told him as she picked up her own menu. "Usually only my mother and the judges call me Alexandra, and Michael does it too, but I'm going to stop that soon enough."

Normally, Alex never would have corrected someone from using her 'real' name, but she just hated the way it sounded in his pretentious tone.

"But Alexandra sounds so much more regal, important, and influential though."

"But I really don't like it."

"Who cares what you like? It what sounds good to the press and the voters. I mean who would you rather vote for? Someone simply called plain old boring 'Alex', or the powerful, insightful, brilliant, almighty state senator: Alexandra Cabot!"

Alex shrugged. "I guess you have a point. But I really just prefer Alex."

"Well _I _prefer Alexandra and seeing as how I'm the one going to be calling you that… "

Alex once again glowered at him, but ultimately stayed silent as he put down the menu and snapped his fingers.

After a moment of silence, Alex finally spoke.

"So, why did you decide to be a DA? I mean, you just seem so much more the defense attorney type guy."

"People vote for the people who put away the criminals, not keep them out on the street."

"That's actually a pretty well thought out reason. I always-"

"Excuse me, how hard is it to get some service around this establishment!" Edward interrupted loudly as he glanced around the restaurant.

Alex looked down at the ground, praying that the hot blush in her face wasn't as noticeable as she thought it was.

Almost at once, a young man, no older than twenty rushed over to their table, forcing a smile on his face, his skin was a light brown, his dark brown, almost black hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, his eyes a warm dark brown color.

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience to you and your party, sir. My name is Thomas, and I'll be your server for this evening, may I start you off with a wine of your choosing?"

Thomas spoke perfect English, with a flavorful Latin accent which Alex found almost amusing. But when the first words were out of Thomas' mouth, Edward turned and glared at him.

"Excuse me, Thomas, would it be possible to get someone who actually speaks English?"

Thomas opened his mouth and closed it again, raising his eyebrow in confusion. "I'm sorry sir?"

"I want an American to serve me," Edward said, annunciating each and every word.

"I'm so sorry," Alex told the waiter, the blush growing hotter. "Please don't be offended!"

"Don't apologize, Alexandra! As an American citizen, you and I have a right to be served food by my own people, as do you. You know I just may very well report this hobble to the INS for hiring these illegal Mexican ingrates. Five star restaurant indeed!"

"First off, _sir_" Thomas snapped, glowering at Edward. "I'm Cuban; second, I've been an American citizen since I was twelve years old."

"How dare you speak to me like that?" Edward growled as he stood up, towering over Thomas.

Alex quickly stood up as well and put her hand on Edward's arm.

"Let's go, now!" she growled, almost shaking from rage.

"I have half a mind to call up INS right here in front of you!"

"Sir, calm down," Thomas pleaded although Alex could see his fists getting balled up.

"Edward, move, now!" Alex demanded trying to pull him away, watching as the security guards walked over to them.

Edward glared at Thomas for a moment before he turned to Alex.

"Fine, let's go. Who would want to eat in this filthy place anyway! Our money is much better being spent elsewhere! Enjoy this night, because I can promise you it's the last one you'll spend working here!"

Edward was the first to storm away from the table, leaving Alex alone, the entire restaurant looking at her in silence.

"I am so, so, SO sorry," Alex told Thomas sincerely. "He's an asshole in every meaning of the word, and you have my word that he won't get you fired."

Thomas said nothing as she gave him an apologetic smile and then hurried away before anyone could question her.

Once outside, Alex stormed over to Edward who was waiting by his car.

"What the hell is the matter with you!" she shouted. "That was incredibly rude of you, and that waiter did nothing for you to treat him like trash!"

"He barley spoke English, Alexandra! Was it so wrong to want to be waited on by someone who understood me?"

"He spoke perfect English, and it's Alex, not Alexandra!"

Edward sighed as if he were bored with this conversation. "Alexandra, we've been over this. The name Alex is-"

"Is what I want!" Alex shot back.

"Yes, but we have determined what you want is idiotic and makes no sense."

Alex stared at him for a moment before she shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe I ever agreed to go out with you. You're… impossible!"

Alex began to storm off, but Edward caught her easily.

"Where are you going?" he demanded as she took off around the corner, "Alexandra, I'm talking to you."

"My car is parked on the three blocks away," she told him not looking back. "Now just leave me alone."

"Alexandra, be reasonable!" he snapped. "Why don't I take you someplace else, and we can start over, without the Mexican interference?"

Alex stayed silent as she turned the other corner and saw groaned as she looked through an empty ally she knew led to the street where her car was parked.

She stopped in front of it and Edward caught up and scoffed. "Alexandra, you can't honestly be turning me away! I turn dates away, I don't get turned away!"

"Always a first time for everything," she muttered as she took a step into the dark, empty ally. "Now for the last time, leave me alone."

Instead of heading her words, Edward followed her, keeping a short distance between him and Alex.

"Look, why don't we just-"

"Shut up!" Alex told him stopping dead in the middle of the ally way.

"Don't tell me to shut up! Do you know who I am! I am-"

"Edward, for the last time, SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Edward stopped cold at Alex's words and both were quiet as Alex looked around the ally, her heart pounding harder, the hair on the back of her neck raised.

"Did you hear something?" she muttered softly.

"No. But then again with all the yelling…"

Alex ignored the jibe and slowly began to walk towards the entrance of the ally way, her breathing coming out short and shallow, Edward following her, but this time silent.

When Alex had almost reached the end of the ally way, everything seemed to go in slow motion.

Edward spotted the man first, and when Alex turned around, she froze the moment she saw what had made Edward stop cold.

A man, who looked like he had a six inch knife in his hand, was running up to them.

"Give me your money, now!" he shouted.

At once, Alex turned to run to the other side of the ally, but saw another man rush up to them and he stopped in front of them, leering at Alex.

Alex tried to remember what little self defense Olivia had taught her when she felt two hands grasp her shoulders and yank her backwards.

For one brief shining moment, Alex thought that Edward would force her behind him; he would be the protector, the defender. He would try to talk them down and do what he could to save her.

But as she stood there after the initial jerk, waiting for him to step in front of her, she realized that he wasn't pulling her behind him to protect her, he was forcing her in front of him to protect him.

Alex couldn't help but let out a sob as he held here there against her will, knowing that_ she _would never have let Alex be put in danger like this, s_he_ would have stepped in front of Alex and pulled her gun, _she_ would have done everything she could to protect her, _she_ would have made sure Alex was safe even if the cost was her own life.

"Let's just calm down," Edward told the men as he backed up against the wall, holding Alex in front of him, his iron clad grip strong enough so that she couldn't get away.

The first man, the one with the knife, stormed over to them. "Give me your wallet, your purse, money, and jewelry now, and no one gets hurt!" he growled holding the knife up to Alex's now tear stained face.

Alex at once pulled the strap of her purse from her shoulder and the man snatched it from her hand without so much as a word.

Alex awaited Edward to do the same, to pull out his wallet and hand it over, and she looked back at him when he didn't.

"Give them your wallet," she pleaded softly.

"Listen to your girlfriend and give us the god damn wallet!" the man with the knife yelled taking a step closer, the knife almost at Alex's throat.

Edward shook his head. "Not in a million years."

"Edward!" Alex shouted. "Give them the wallet now!"

When Edward made no move, the man with the knife lunged at them, and Edward pushed Alex away from him, crashing her into the man, her head making a sickening crunch as it slammed up against his nose.

The other thief tried at once to help his friend up, and not even a moment went by when he ran by the group and out of the ally, leaving Alex alone with the men.

Alex bit back tears as she detangled herself from the thief. She too tried to make a run for it, but one of them grabbed a hold of her and slammed her into the wall.

"Please don't hurt me," she pleaded taking deep breaths, trying her best to remain calm. "You have my purse, that's all I have on me."

The one with the knife wiped the blood from his nose and narrowed his eyes at her as he stormed up to her.

The two locked eyes for a moment, both silent before he reared back and hit her across the face as hard as he could manage.

Alex let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground, quickly pushing herself back up as the two men looked down at her.

"That' for your boyfriend being an ass," he growled as he shoved her back down onto the ground

The other thief rushed over and as hard as he possibly could, kicked her square in the middle of the back "And that's for the money we lost out because your boyfriend is a little chicken shit!"

"Stop!" Alex screamed as he kicked her in the ribs, a sickening crunch echoing in the ally as she put her hands above her to protect her head. "Please stop!"

Neither thief listened as the blows continued, each kick causing her a little more pain than the last.

Alex no longer cared about not crying and now lay sobbing on the ground, forcing her mind to escape to somewhere else, somewhere where pain didn't overtake every inch of her now broken and bruised body, somewhere where Olivia was, the only safe place she had left.

Alex's body jerked and rocked with every kick, the pain almost unbearable, and for one brief moment, she wanted them to just kill her and get her out of the misery she was in.

After another moment of the torment, her body stopped aching and rocking with the blows. She faintly heard the word 'stop' but she couldn't have been sure of it.

She heard the two men's faint footsteps walk off, leaving her alone in the ally way. She tried in vain to move, to call for help, but knew it was a lost cause.

Alex forced her eyes open and saw only the thick wave blood that flowed freely down her face.

She closed them again and felt a sudden tiredness take over her, and she vaguely thought that there was no way she could ever sleep when she was in this much pain

Alex let out a soft moan, her jaw hurting her too much to even attempt to get it opened and felt darkness take over her as she slipped off into the unknown unconsciousness.

Please Review!!


	9. Chapter 9

I own no one but my own people

Alex slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling the most tired she ever had been in her life. But when she opened her eyes, she expected to see the New York City sky, feel the dirt and grime of the city floor beneath her.

What she didn't expect to see was a bright white light while she lied on top of something soft and comfortable, a feeling of warmth surrounded her and she wanted to stay like this forever.

She closed her eyes, blocking out the harsh light and listened for a moment, expecting to hear the voice of the one person she knew would make this the perfect place.

Alex opened her mouth to call out to her and it seemed like she was moving in slow motion.

"Olivia," she called, her words soft and barley loud enough for her to hear them, and she received no answer. "Olivia!" she cried, louder this time, hearing a distant voice call back to her, but not the one she wanted to hear.

At once, Alex began to panic. She didn't want this, not without her. "Olivia!" she screamed as she closed her eyes, blocking out the light, letting out a sob.

"Mam, calm down!" a voice told her forcefully, this time getting clearer. "You're in the hospital!"

At those words Alex's eyes shot open again and this time she allowed them to adjust to the bright light, and she could make out ceiling tiles and instead of silence, the sounds of various beeping and speaking slowly grew.

Alex looked over at her side and saw a female doctor in light blue scrubs and a lab coat at her in confusion.

"Mam, are you okay?" the doctor asked her as she slowly took a step towards Alex.

"What's going on? Where am I?" Alex asked the doctor making sure that the words she had heard before was correct.

"You're in Mercy General ICU. You have a concussion, two cracked ribs, and a sprained wrist," the doctor informed her. "A woman found you bleeding and unconscious in an alley way with no ID and called 911. Do you remember what happened?"

Alex thought for a moment before she nodded. "We were mugged. They took my purse. Edward… he pushed me in front of him, used me as a shield. Then he ran off and left me with them. They pushed me down on the ground and just started kicking and hitting me. How long have I been out?"

"911 services got the call at around nine; it's a quarter past ten right now."

"I left the restaurant at seven thirty," Alex remembered, fear suddenly taking over her. "That's an hour and a half that I was unconscious on the streets."

Alex took a shuddering breath, tears making their way down her face, her breathing labored. "Wa- was I ra- raped?"

The doctor shook her head. "No. We ran a rape kit when you were first admitted and we found no evidence of semen, spermicide, tearing, or any other sign of rape or sexual trauma."

Alex let out a relieved breath and felt tears of joy run down her face, and felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders. "Thank you," she breathed.

The doctor smiled at her. "Of course. Now is there anyone you would like us to call?"

Alex nodded, "yeah. Could you please call Olivia Benson at 315-555-5782?"

"Absolutely, and what is your name, mam?"

"Alex Cabot."

The doctor nodded and left the room, leaving Alex alone once more.

Alex took a deep breath and rested against her pillow, letting tears fall down her face.

She knew that Olivia would never have let her be used as a shield against an attack, she would have stayed with her, protected her, and she would have given up her purse and then some if it meant that Alex was out of danger, Alex doing the same for her in a heartbeat.

Alex let her mind race for a moment, hating Edward for leaving her at the mercy of two armed men and caring more about his money then her life, hating her mother for telling her to be with Edward knowing that she disliked him, hating Michael for setting her up with Edward knowing she was a lesbian, but most of all she hated herself for pushing Olivia away, for not making her want to stay with her, for not being there tonight to protect her, knowing that getting kicked a few times was the very least of the damages that could have been done to her.

Alex took a deep breath and felt her tiredness over take her. She closed her eyes, and she once again fell under.

June 3rd, Marcos, 10:14 PM

Olivia laughed along with Bree as the two women made their way out of the bar, smiling at one another.

"So after I get him down on the ground, arms behind his back, he says that he knew I liked it rough with the handcuffs, and I tell him, 'I might be gay, but even your ass is too girly for me'."

Olivia laughed once more as they stopped at the curb where Bree's car was parked.

"You took the cruiser?" Olivia asked with tiny grin as she looked over the marked police car.

Bree shrugged. "I'm a lieutenant, perks of being in charge."

"You're lucky. My boss hands my ass to me and my partner if the gas tank on our car gets more than half empty."

"Well maybe I could talk to him for you, get him to give you a little break."

"We've tried; he's about as stubborn as they come."

"But he hasn't had to deal with the powers of my persuasion though," Bree said with a smirk taking a step closer to Olivia.

Olivia felt her heart beating louder, more intense as she stepped closer to Bree.

"But just how good are those powers though?" Olivia asked as she looked into Bree's eyes, the gray green of them drawing her in.

Bree wrapped her arms around Olivia's neck, and Olivia forced herself to breathe once more. "You'll find that what I want, I usually always get."

Olivia tried to move her hands, to talk, to do something besides stand there, her breathing becoming heavier with every breath.

"And right now," Bree whispered softly, causing Olivia to strain to listen. "I want you."

Olivia saw her close her eyes, lean forward just a hair, before her lips met Olivia's.

A thousand different thoughts ran through Olivia's mind, all containing a blond hair blue eyed ADA looking at her with betrayal.

"You left me!" Olivia screamed at herself as she wrapped her arms around Bree and forced herself to kiss her back. "I'm broken up with you; I'm allowed to do this!"

But as Bree gently ran her tongue over Olivia's lips, asking for entry, which Olivia gave her, she felt a million different things that she thought she would never feel.

She felt muscles instead of softness; the hair she ran her fingers through was too thick, too curly, the taste of wintergreen almost took over her senses instead of the citrus she was so used to tasting, the strawberries and cream scent that could turn Olivia on in a heartbeat replaced by vanilla and honey. She took more control of the kiss then Alex ever had, almost fighting with Olivia for dominance.

With a sigh, Olivia pulled away, looking down at the ground, shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly.

Bree looked at her in confusion. "You're Sorry? For what?"

"For this," Olivia told her, still not making herself any clearer.

Bree raised an eyebrow. "You have nothing to be sorry for." A smirk overtook Bree's face once more. "Trust me."

Bree went in to kiss her once more, but Olivia put a hand out to stop her, shaking her head. Don't. I just… I can't do this."

"Can't do what?" Bree asked trying her best to withhold the annoyance of her date speaking in riddles as she finally stepped back from Olivia, letting her arms drop to her sides.

Olivia sighed and looked up at her. "Bree… you're an amazing woman. You're brilliant, funny, amazing, sexy as hell, and I would love nothing more than to kiss you again."

"What's stopping you?" Bree asked, with a tiny smile, although both women could see it was forced.

Olivia shook her head again. "I just can't."

"Olivia, please tell me what's going on," Bree asked, a hint of pleading in her voice. "If it was something I did, just tell me."

Olivia groaned, hating the fact that she was causing Bree pain, knowing that she didn't deserve that. That she was just an innocent party in this. "It's not you, Bree, I swear, it's not even me. It's… its something else; something that is going to haunt my love life the rest of my life."

"What?"

Olivia took a deep breath and was about to speak before her cell phone went off, causing both women to groan.

"It might be work," Olivia explained as she explored her purse and pulled out her phone.

Without so much as looking at the caller ID, she hit the tiny green button. "Benson," she answered.

"Is this an Olivia Benson?" the female voice on the other end asked.

"Yes it is. Who's calling?"

"Ms. Benson, this is Doctor Horner from Mercy ICU. A patient gave me this number as her point of contact."

"What's the patient's name?" Olivia asked, preparing herself to hear a victim's name.

"Alex Cabot."

Time almost seemed to stand still for Olivia as her eyes widened and took a step back.

"Ar… are you sure it's her?"

"After she woke up, she told us to contact Olivia Benson at 315-555-5782."

"What's wrong with her?"

"A woman found her unconscious, bloody, and with no ID in an alley way and called 911. She has a few cracked ribs, a concussion, and a sprained wrist."

Olivia bit her bottom lip to keep the tears from escaping. "This is all my fault," she whispered, her lip trembling.

Bree walked over to her. "Olivia, are you alright?"

Olivia barley heard her as she forced herself to ask the next question. "You said she was unconscious and bleeding in an alley right?"

"Yes mam. She said that she had been mugged."

"Was… was there um... was there any signs of sexu, sexual assault?"

In the half second it took the doctor to answer, Olivia felt an entire lifetime and then some go by, praying for the first time in years for the answer.

"No. We ran a rape kit when she was first admitted and there were no signs of any sexual trauma."

Olivia let out a cry of joy, the tears running down her face. "So is she going to be okay?"

"Besides being in pain for the next few weeks and the concussion, she should be fine."

"Thank you! Thank you so much, doctor. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Without waiting for another word, Olivia hung up the phone, and turned to Bree, a huge smile on her face.

"Are you okay? Who's in the hospital?" Bree asked as Olivia stuffed her phone back into her purse.

"I'm fine. My… my friend got mugged and she's in ICU at mercy," Olivia said, unable to hide a grin plastered on her face.

"Then why are you so happy about it? I mean if I got a call saying one of my friends was mugged, I'd be pretty upset."

"When you've worked in SVU for as long as I have, you'll find just getting beaten and left there, not to mention left alone by others, is probably the best things that could happen to you in a violent mugging."

Bree looked at her for a moment and chuckled and shook her head. "Wow. I never looked at a mugging and beating in a good way. But to each his own, I guess."

Olivia let out a tiny laugh and both women were engulfed in silence, the smile on Olivia's face disappearing, the two looking anywhere but at one another.

After a moment, Bree cleared her throat and looked at Olivia, and gave her a small smile. "Do you need a ride to the hospital?"

Olivia whipped her head around to face her, her eyes wide. "You… you would do that for me?"

Bree nodded. "I'm sure your friend wants you there, and I have sirens and lights on my car."

Olivia opened her mouth to say yes but ultimately shut it again. Bree was offering a ride to the hospital so she could be with her ex fiancée, on their first date.

Olivia gave her a sad smile and shook her head. "No thanks. I'll take a cab there."

"Don't waste your money. Trust me, it wouldn't be the first first date where I've had to take a date somewhere. One time I actually had to talk my girlfriend out of jail the first night one time."

"Cop dating a felon, nice," Olivia said with a smirk.

Bree chuckled and shook her head. "Trust me, it's not as 'Romeo and Juliet' as it seems. She borrowed her roommates debit card, and he thought it was stolen so he put out a report on it that day. Low and behold, she goes to pay for the date and next thing we know, she's in handcuffs by the security guards and my cops are on the way over to arrest her."

Olivia laughed and the two women smiled at one another.

"Come on," Bree said with a jerk of the head. "I'll give you a ride over."

Olivia took a deep breath and finally nodded as she got in the police cruiser.

"What's your station?" Bree asked as she too got into the car.

"Anything but country," Olivia answered as Bree flipped on the sirens.

"Good choice. I can't stand country music."

Olivia couldn't help but chuckle and lean her head back against the seat as Bree drove off into the night.

Mercy Hospital, 10:37 PM

Olivia walked into the hospital, Bree following close behind.

Olivia walked over to the receptionist and cleared her throat.

"Can I help you," the receptionist said as she looked up at Olivia.

"I'm looking for Alex Cabot's room," Olivia told her, momentarily forgetting who was behind her.

"Give me one moment," the receptionist told her as she began to look through the multiple files.

"Alex Cabot?" Bree said a hint of anger in her voice.

Olivia groaned at her own stupidity and turned around to face her,

"As in your ex fiancé Alex Cabot?"

Olivia took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah."

Bree looked at her for a moment and opened her mouth to say something before the receptionist returned. "She's in room 113. Straight down that hall and the third on your left."

Olivia went to take a step towards the hall where the receptionist had told her, but then stopped dead and turned around.

"Bree, I'm… I'm sorry. I know this is hardly how you wanted to spend the date, but-"

"No, it's fine," Bree said with a smile, but the bitter sadness on her lips was clear. "Go be with Alex. I'm sure she needs you more than I do right now anyway."

Olivia stood there a moment, her heart torn between going to Alex, and staying with Bree.

Bree gave a nod of the head. "Go on. I'll be fine, I promise. I'll call you tomorrow, alright?"

A true heartfelt smile lit up Olivia's face. "Thank you."

Without another word, Olivia left for Alex's room.

Olivia walked down the hall, her heart fluttering nervously as she reached Alex's room.

She looked in there and felt a rush of tears come on at once, but she forced herself to hide them.

Alex was dozing off in the bed, the TV on a low volume, fiercely blinking her eyes so they would stay open.

Olivia took a shuddering breath and the sound roused Alex to look towards the door where Olivia stood.

Alex's face broke out into a painful smile as her eyes filled with tears. "You came." She spoke so softly, Olivia had to almost strain to listen.

"Of course I came," Olivia said just as soft as she entered the room.

They were both silent as Olivia walked over to her, looking her over, the tears appearing in her eyes.

"What's with the dress?" Alex asked as Olivia sat down.

"It's nothing," Olivia lied as she looked her over more closely.

"How bad does it look?" Alex asked as Olivia landed on a particularly bad looking bruise on her neck.

"Not too bad," Olivia said as she looked away from Alex's eye.

Alex laughed, and Olivia couldn't help but smile at the sound of it.

"You never were the best liar."

"What can I say, I can try."

Both women chuckled softly before it faded to silence. Olivia was silent for a moment before she spoke. "The doctors said they found you in an alley unconscious and bleeding. You told them you were mugged?"

"Yeah. I was trying to get away from Edward and instead of walking the two blocks-"

"Hang on. You mean Edward Lancaster? That dick we met back in December? Why were you with him?"

Alex shrugged and looked down at the white sheet. "It doesn't matter."

Olivia opened her mouth to push it, but ultimately closed it and nodded. "You're right. What matters is you're safe now. But why were you trying to get away from him? Alex, did he hurt you?" Olivia asked with a fierce look in her eyes.

"No. Well, not directly anyway," Alex said with a trembling lip.

Olivia moved the chair closer to the bed. "Tell me what that bastard did to you, and tell me now," she growled.

"He… he followed me into the alleyway, and when the muggers showed up, he forced me to be his shield, refused to give them his wallet, pushed me into one of them and ran off and left me alone with them."

Olivia's breathing became heavy as she looked over Alex's various bruises and cuts, from the cast on her arms to the bandages around her ribs.

With an almost frightening crash, she stood up, sending the chair backwards. "I'll kill the fucking bastard."

"Olivia, don't do anything stupid!" Alex pleaded as Olivia began to pace the room. "He has connections."

"And I have a gun, tell me which is more deadly," she snarled.

"He didn't really do anything though; you have no cause for arrest."

"Wanna bet?" Olivia snapped as she went back over to Alex's bedside. "Alex, you could have been killed, or raped, or kidnapped, or tortured or god knows what else! Alright, you and I both know that a few cracked ribs and a sprained wrist is the very least of what could have happened to you!"

"But I wasn't any of those things. I'm going to be fine."

"What if you weren't though," Olivia said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "What if you had been my next case, all because that bastard was too much of a coward to go for help, or to protect you? What if instead of a hospital, you were laying in Warner's morgue right now?"

"Olivia, that didn't happen though," Alex said softly as she reached over and took her hand. "I'm here, with you, alive and safe."

Olivia looked down at Alex's bruised and bloodied hand before she enclosed her hand around Alex's. "I know you're here. I just… the thought of losing you like that because of someone like him is… I can't even imagine what I would do to him if you had been murdered or worse."

"There's nothing worse than death," Alex said softly, barley above a whisper. "Because even if those two guys had kidnapped me, raped me, tortured me… if I had lived, I know you would have found me. But if I had died, we both would have been alone, and I can't picture a life without you, even for a moment."

Olivia looked down at her, their eyes locking before Olivia closed her eyes, leaned down over the bed, and they kissed.

Alex reached up and ran her hand through her hair, their lips melting together; wanting to get as close to the other one as the bed would allow them.

Olivia kissed her more hungrily, eagerly. The taste, the smell, the movement of her lips against Alex's; everything about her just seemed so right, so familiar, so perfect. Their arguments and fights lay dormant and forgotten.

Only when a small gasp was heard from the doorway did Olivia finally break the kiss.

Olivia looked up, and the joy from kissing Alex disappeared at once as she looked at Bree standing there, looking both hurt and angry. "Forgot your purse in the car."

"Bree, I'm sor-" Olivia began, but Bree threw the purse to the floor, some of the contents spilling out of it.

"Forget it," she snapped, narrowing her eyes at Alex who was looking at her in confusion. "It doesn't matter. I was the idiot for thinking you actually cared."

"Bree, wait!" Olivia pleaded as Bree stormed out of the hospital room.

Olivia went to go after her, but Alex tightened her hold on Olivia's hand.

"Stay," Alex said softly, her eyes stinging with tears. Olivia looked out the door before turning back to Alex. "Please."

Olivia looked down at her for a moment before she nodded and sat back down near her.

"Who was that?" Alex asked as Olivia looked down at the bed.

"She… she was my date tonight. She's a captain at the 2-7, and we met for drinks tonight. She gave me a ride to the hospital."

Alex looked at her for a moment before she spoke. "You went out on a date with her? Like a date date?"

Olivia nodded. "Elliot convinced me to ask her out and I did."

Alex took a shuddering deep breath and looked down at the bed.

"Alex, say something," Olivia pleaded.

After another moment, Alex looked back up at her and gave her a sad smile. "I'm not mad. I guess I really can't be either. I mean we were, are… Olivia, I'm not sure how to finish that sentence."

Olivia took a deep breath before she spoke. "I didn't come back to the hospital looking to get back together, Alex. I mean, when you kicked Simon out of the wedding that hurt. And I didn't know how I was going to even be able to look at you in the precinct, much less love you again."

Alex bit her bottom lip as Olivia took another breath before she spoke. "But after coming so close to losing you tonight, I just… I don't want that feeling ever again. But, Alex, this is a two way thing here. I love you, you love me, neither one of us can deny it even if we tried. But we need to work on this if we're going to be together. You need to stand up to your mother, and to Michael. You also can't keep secrets from me anymore about your job. When you make the choice to run for the house or the senate or governor or whatever else, I want to be involved."

Alex nodded, letting out a cry of joy. "Anything you want. I'll do whatever it takes to make this work, Olivia, I swear it."

Olivia smiled and nodded before letting out her own cry of joy before she leaned once more over the bed and kissed her once more.

Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

I own no one.

I'm so sorry for the long wait.

Mercy Hospital, June 4th, 2:30 PM

Alex sat up in the hospital bed as she nursed a bottle of water, her blanket wrapped firmly around her as she surfed through the channels, landing momentarily on one of her favorite actor's faces.

"And in entertainment news," the perky blond said, a large, beaming smile on her face, although Alex was sure the only reason she was smiling was because she couldn't change her expression due to the Botox. "Johnny Depp has been rumored to have broken up with new flame, Helena Bonham Carter. When asked about how Helena was handling the split, she replied that she didn't even know they had broken up with long time boyfriend Tim Burton, much less that she had started dated and was then dumped by his best friend."

Alex let out a bored sigh as she flipped through the channels once more, going around twice before she finally switched off the TV.

She looked over towards the door, wishing that Olivia would be getting back from the cafeteria soon so she could have her company again. Even after one day in the hospital, she was already bored out of her mind.

Alex laid down on the hospital bed, the pillow surprisingly soft, and she soon felt her eyes become heavier.

She was just about to drift off to bed when she heard a sound she prayed was in her head.

"Excuse me, where can I find room 216? Lila's pretentious voice rang out.

"Right behind you, Ma'am," a voice told her.

Alex groaned loudly but she quickly plastered a fake smile on her face as she saw Max and Lila walk into her room.

"Hi, mom; hi, dad

Lila hadn't looked at her for half a second before she burst into tears.

"My poor baby!" Lila cried as she ran over to her, hugging her tightly.

Alex gasped loudly and gently pushed on Lila's shoulders. "Cracked ribs! Pain! Can't breathe!"

Lila at once let go of her and took a few steps back.

"I'm sorry, Alexandra," she told her as Alex sat up in the bed breathing heavily.

"It's fine," she managed to squeak out. "It's just… kind of painful."

Max came up to her, and Alex could see him biting the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing. "So how are you feeling besides the whole 'my mother just tried to crush me' thing? You look like you went a few rounds in the ring."

Alex chuckled, and was surprised at how much that hurt. "It's not as bad as it looks. There's a lot of bruising and scratches, but really I just had two cracked ribs, a concussion, and my wrist is sprained. But my headaches almost completely gone, the doctors said I should be out of here by tomorrow, and the splint comes off my hand on the tenth."

Lila shook her head and took Alex's unbroken hand in her own, and Alex was astounded to see tears shine in the hard woman's eyes. "It could have been so much worse, Alexandra," Lila whispered, biting her bottom lip. "Those muggers could have…"

But Lila broke off and took a shuddering breath, wiping away the tears in her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

"She's fine," Max told her as he came up and rubbed Lila's back, looking down at Alex, tears appearing in her own eyes. "And we're very fortunate that nothing more did happen."

Alex had to keep her own tears at bay as she nodded in agreement. "I know, trust me, I know it could have gone worse. But it didn't, and I'm gonna be fine."

Lila sniffed and nodded once more, giving Alex a teary smile. "I just thank god that Edward was there to protect you."

For the third time in her life, Alex thought for sure, without a doubt, that her mother was completely and utterly out of her mind.

"What?" Alex breathed, thinking for sure she had heard wrong. "Did you just say, 'thank god Edward was there to... protect me'?"

Lila nodded, looking at Alex in alarm. "Don't you remember, Alexandra? When those muggers came into the alley, Edward pushed you behind him and tried to fight them off. It wasn't until they knocked him out that he stopped fighting for you."

"Luckily for him, he just got a pretty bad hit on the head so not much bruises or scratches. He was the one who told us about the mugging," Max said with a comforting smile. "I guess I misjudged the boy."

Alex whipped into a sitting position, ignoring the pain in her ribs. "No you didn't! Edward didn't protect me! He pushed me in front of him and ran off to save his own skin!"

Lila shook her head, "no, darling. You must have hit your head pretty hard and not remember it."

"That's not true! That's not true at all!" Alex cried, tears appearing in her eyes. "Edward used me as a shield and ran off!"

"Alex, sweetie, maybe you should get a doctor to look at you head again," Max said softly as he held her hand, but Alex wrenched it away.

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"But Edward told us-"

"He was lying!" Alex cried, a sob mixing in with her words. "Because you want to know what I was thinking when Edward was holding me there against my will while that mugger had that knife to my throat? I was thinking that Olivia never would have let those guys get their hands on me, that she would have done whatever she could have to protect me, to defend me, that she would have died trying to save me! And the only thing I wanted right then was for her to be there because she would have made everything okay!"

Max and Lila both turned to look at one another before they turned back to Alex who was brushing away the tears as fast as she could manage.

"You're sure about this?" Lila asked, her voice suddenly ice cold. "You're positive that Edward didn't try to protect you even in the slightest?"

Alex nodded. "I didn't hit my head that hard, mom. I know what happened."

Lila's icy blue eyes narrowed and both Alex and Max could have sworn they heard a low growl escape her throat.

They all suddenly heard a pair of footsteps walk towards the room, and Alex glowered at the figure who appeared in her doorway.

"Alexandra!" Edward greeted, flashing a pearly white smile as he entered the room, going right up to Alex's bedroom, missing the death glares sent to him by Lila and Max as they stood behind him. "I'm so glad to see you're alright! I was in the hospital as well, and I told your parents about the accident, after I asked how your welfare was of course. You hit your head pretty hard, so don't be surprised if a few details of last night is a little jumbled," he said with a nod, his smiled growing even larger, almost as if he were begging her to tell her parents the same lie that he had.

Alex glowered at him and he winked at her, a sly smirk on his face.

Alex closed her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath, trying to compose herself before she opened them again. "Edward," she began, as calm as a woman could be in her situation. "I'm going to ask you this as calm as I can manage. But-"

"YOU LOWLIFE SCUM FILLED PRICK!" Lila shrieked as she grabbed his arm and forced him around to face her.

To say Edward was shocked at Lila's words would be an understatement. But what she did after had made her out burst look perfectly normal.

Lila wrenched back her hand, and before Edward could even duck, Lila had slapped him so hard that made him fall onto the bed.

Edward tried to distangle himself from her bed, but Lila reached out and as hard as she could muster, kicked him in the shin.

Alex's eyes widened as she looked at Max who looked just as amazed as Alex, only once having seen this side of his wife, and she was stark raving drunk at the time.

He grabbed onto the bed rail and had to hld himself up as he tried to right himself. Lila grabbed him by the shirt collar and turned him around.

"Lila!" Max shouted, but Lila ignored his outburst.

"You insignificant little... little worm!" she snarled, as she reared back to hit him again. "You let my daughter almost die just to save your own skin!"

"No!" Edward pleaded, his hands raised in the air in surrender. "I swear, Lillian, all I did was help her!"

"Liar!" Lila screamed as she slapped him again, almost sending him to the floor again.

"Lila, stop this!" Max told her, but the blonde woman in front of him looked like she was in no mood to listen to anyone.

"Alexandra was perfectly coherent during the entire robbery and after! But you! You used her as a shield and then ran away from her! What kind of man does that?"

"She's confused!"

"Do not lie to me!" Lila shouted as she slugged him again, making Edward take several steps backward, but she was on him again just as quick, slapping him between every word while he raised his arms up covering his face but not restraining her. " You lowlife," SLAP! "no good!" SLAP! "piece!" SLAP! "of!" SLAP! "garbage!"

Lila raised her hand to hit him again, and Alex gasped as she saw a trickle of her mothers blood run down her hand, one of her perfectly pedicured nails chipped almost all the way off.

"What the hell is going on?" a voice from the doorway demanded and Alex groaned loudly as she looked over and saw Olivia looking in the room in utter confusion.

Olivia cast her eyes around the room before she finally landed on Edward, and Alex groaned once more as Olivia's eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

Olivia stormed in the room, and even Lila in all of her fury knew to not stand in the way of her.

Alex looked between Edward and Olivia and her sense of fear heightened, not for Edward, but for Olivia, who she knew Edward would have no qualms about hitting back if this were to turn ugly.

"Olivia ,just calm down," Alex pleaded as Olivia stormed up to him, but she refused to back down.

The two stared one another down, and Alex had to admit that Edward had bravery in this at least, because Alex had herself faltered at the same look in a much less minor degree.

"Get out of her room," Olivia snarled, visibly shaking. "You are not to talk to her, you are not to look at her, you are not to even think about her again, do you understand me?"

Edward chuckled slyly as he took a step forward, leaving no space in between the two bodies. "And what the hell do you think a little bull dyke bitch like you is going to do to stop me? Arrest me? Go right ahead. I'll be out and have your badge faster then you can say welfare"

"You ever come near her again, and me arresting you will be the least of your problems."

Edward glowered at her, his eyes trailing down her body before meeting her eyes once more.

Edward narrowed his eyes at her, his fists balling. "Do not threaten me, you little bitch."

Olivia stood her ground. "Or what?"

Without warning, Edward pulled back his fist and as hard as he could, punched her in the face.

"Olivia!" Alex screamed as Olivia stumbled away from him, but the look Olivia gave Edward after she had regained her footing was more terrifying then anything she had ever seen before.

Edward was about to rush over to her, rearing his fist once more, ready and willing to hit her again. Olivia charged him, putting all of her weight into slamming into him with her shoulder, making them both smash into the wall.

Edward tried to hit her again, but Olivia was quicker this time and rammed him with her own fist, but Edward followed through with his own punch to her eye.

Olivia couldn't help but cry out in pain as Edward hit her as hard as he possibly could in the chest, and Alex could see her eyes go wide as she struggled to breathe as Edward hit her in the face again. Grabbing her by the arms and throwing her into the wall, rubbing up against her.

"Leave her alone!" Alex pleaded as she looked at Lila who looked absolutely terrified at the exchange of an actual fight to Max who ran to the door and shouted out of it.

"I need security in here now!"

Max's shout distracted Edward just long enough so that Olivia could get enough of her breath back to hit him in the face, making him stumble back from her.

Edward wasted no time as he ran back over to her, this time grabbing her by the forearms and trying to push her back against the wall again, his thumbs grazing the outsides of her breasts.

"Don't you ever touch me like that!" Olivia growled as she kneed him directly in between the legs and pulled away from his grasp.

Edward let out an scream of pain and doubled over, clutching himself as he shook violently from the pain.

Olivia grabbed him by the back of the head, and with a loud cry, she collided her knee with his face with a sickening crunch that echoed in the room.

Without another word, Edward fell to the ground, his eyes closed.

Olivia went over to the wall and leaned against it, taking deep breaths, her eyes closed as well.

Alex at once tried to get up from her bed, but Olivia put a hand out and shook her head. "I'll be fine," Olivia told her, but the blood and bruising covering her told a different story. "Just give me a minute... God, I'm getting to old for this," she moaned softly as she massaged her bruised arms from where Edward had grabbed her.

Right then, a doctor and two security officers rushed in the room, looking at Edward to Olivia who had blood running down her face and her left eye had already turned a nasty shade of black.

"What happened?" the security guard asked as he held his hand on his night stick, looking from Lila whose hand was now practically gushing blood, to Olivia who looked like she had just been in a cage match, to Edward who remained still on the floor.

No one spoke for a moment before Lila cleared her throat and walked over to the security officers being none to careful to step over Edward.

"I want that man arrested," she said standing in front of the guard, crossing her arms, looking at him as if to say 'I dare you to say no'.

"No one's getting arrested until we figure out the story here."

"And everyone gets proper medical treatment," the doctor added with a nod towards Olivia who shook her head.

"I'm fine. I just got the wind knocked out of me, I'll be fine," she assured him, and even now her breaths were becoming less haggard.

"I'll tell you exactly what happened, officer," Lila said as she pointed towards Edward. "That man almost killed my daughter!"

"And how did he do that?"

"Last night me and him were mugged," Alex explained. "He pushed me in front of him and used me as a shield and then ran off and left me alone. The muggers kicked my ass, and left me unconscious in an ally."

The guard shrugged, "as cowardly as that is, it's not really a crime."

"She could have been killed," Olivia told the guard as she walked over to Alex, limping slightly, her hand on her stomach. "She could have been raped or kidnaped or-"

"But she wasn't," the guard told her. "And I'm sure you care for your niece very much but-"

"Niece?" Olivia interrupted as she held out her hand to stop him. "What the hell do you mean 'niece'?"

The guard looked from Alex to Olivia. "Aren't you two related."

"Oh dear god in heaven above no! " Lila cried as is he had personally insulted her.

"Not yet," Olivia said with a flashing glare towards Lila.

"Oh... are you the mother of the groom? I mean usually when people say that, there's a wedding coming up, and since she's the blondes mother, I assume-"

"How old do you think I am?" Olivia interrupted.

The guard looked her over for a minute before he shrugged.

"53."

"53!" Olivia screamed, her voice going up several octaves, and Alex had to bite back a laugh. "I'm 45, and she!" she motioned to Alex, her eyes wide as saucer plates "is my fiancee!"

The guard looked at them for a moment before he nodded. "Oh, okay. I get it now. But like I was saying before, that man committed no crime last night. Who threw the first punch?"

Lila's 'I did' was mixed in with Olivia's 'he did'.

The guard sighed in annoyance and Lila and Olivia met Lila's eyes, her brow narrowed in confusion. "I'm going to ask you again. Who threw the first punch?"

"Well it was more of a slap," Lila admitted, blushing furiously red.

Olivias mouth parted in confusion as she looked back at Alex who nodded before she turned back to Lila.

"You actually slapped him?" Olivia asked in awe.

Lila nodded, the blush on her face growing even more pronounced. "And kind of spit on him."

"Did he hit you back?"

Lila shook her head and the guard nodded before turning to Olivia.

"And what happened to you?"

"I told him to get out of her room, he whaled off and hit me, he came at me, and I was merely defending myself."

" He also sexually assaulted her," Alex added and Olivia groaned in annoyance, not wanting that on the record at all.

"So you were defending yourself?" the guard asked Olivia, and both her and Alex nodded in agreement.

"And you just kept slapping him as well as spit on him?"

Lila swallowed hard and nodded.

The guard nodded before he got out his handcuffs.

"Now wait just one moment!": Lila said as she took a step away from the guard. "I can't go to jail!"

"You assaulted him."

"I'm a sixty eig- sixty fiv... 62 year old woman! What damage could I have possibly done to him?"

"It was still assault."

The guard walked behind her and grabbed one of Lila's wrist and pulled it behind her and cuffed one of them into the hands.

"Max, do something!" Lila ordered, her usual look of determination and wealth replaced by one of fear. "I look horrible in orange!"

Before Max could say a word, Olivia walked over to the guard and reached in her pocket.

"Officer, wait," Olivia told him before Max could open his mouth, pulling out her badge and showing it to him.

"It was just a couple slaps," she said as the guard took her badge from her hands to look at it. "And from my stand view of a detective, much less a SVU detective who deals with a lot of assaults, I can give you my word that what she did to him was not assault. The blood and bruises, that's all from me. She did no real damage."

The guard looked from the badge to Olivia's face and back down again before he handed back her badge and uncuffed Lila.

"Thank you," Olivia said with a genuine smile, ignoring Lila's look of confusion. "But if it makes you feel better, you can arrest that guy for assaulting a police officer as well as sexually assaulting a police officer," Olivia told him with a not so gentle nudge with his foot. "I wouldn't object to that."

"Of course, detective."

The doctor left the room and within a few seconds came back with a stretcher, and the two security guards as well as Olivia picked him up and dropped him down on it.

The guard who had threatened to arrest Lila cuffed one of Edward's hands to the bed post and he was wheeled out of the room.

There was silence in the small hospital room for a moment before Lila cleared her throat.

"Thank you, Olivia," Lila said. "You didn't have to do that for me, and I appreciate it."

Olivia turned to look at Lila and surprised all by glowering at her. "I didn't do it for you, I did it for her," she spat as she motioned to Alex.

Lila scoffed and took a step back. "Well what on earth are you so mad about?"

"This is all your fault, Lila. Alex being in the hospital, being mugger, everything of hers stolen. That's all on you!"

"How on earth do you figure that?" Lila demanded.

"If you hadn't of forced us apart, she never would have went on a date with Edward!"

"I didn't attack my daughter or run away and left her in the hands of two criminals!"

"But you are the one who pushed her into the situation!"

"Don't hold back how you feel, Olivia, just spit it out," Lila said as she narrowed her eyes at Olivia.

"Okay, I will. You're nothing but a miserable old woman who want's to control every single part of Alex's life. You think anyone who isn't a carbon copy of Alex or yourself is in the wrong, and if it wasn't for the fact that I am head over heels in love with your daughter, then I would be wishing every day that you were never even born."

Lila's eyes widened and her mouth parted for a moment or two. "You're one to talk about control! You left Alex 11 days before the wedding! She pleaded and begged you to come back to her, and you still left. If it wasn't for the fact that you were in the accident last December, you and Alex never would have gotten back together, and it's true this time! You use your control over her and every time she says or does something you don't like, you threaten to leave her! Pretty soon she's going to be so scared of you and this relationship, that she'll never even speak up! It's the same routine with you two every day! You fight, you threaten to leave, she begs for forgiveness, and you go 'okay, I'll take you back, but you never do that again'. Then when she goes and does something else you don't particularly agree with, you threaten her with the same threat!"

"I do not!"

"Yes you do! "

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do-

"SHUT UP!"

The shout brought both Lila and Olivia to silence. They whipped towards Alex who was on the near verge of tears.

"I'm so sick of you two fighting!" Alex shouted looking from Lila and Olivia. "You're my mother, and you're going to be my wife in ten days! You two can't just pretend to act civil to one another?"

"But Alex, she-"

"I don't care! I don't care anymore! I don't care that Lila called you a uneducated liberal who wouldn't know good fashion if it bit you in your off the rack polyester slacks, or that you called my mother a conservative nut job who needs to get her head out of the 50s! I love you, Olivia, and I always will, and she'll always be my mother and I'll always lover her as well; but right now I'm on the fritz about both of you!"

"Alexandra, I'm your-"

"I'm not done yet!" Alex snapped, and both Lila and Olivia were completley silent once more. "Mom, when I woke up in the hospital last night, I thought I had died. And I was never as frightened as I was then because Olivia wasn't with me. I love you Olivia, I love every thing about you. You are the perfect woman for me and there's not a whole hell of a lot of things you could do that would make me fall out of love with you."

Olivia bit her bottom lip and struggled not to run over and embrace her.

"And mom, you're... my mom. I always have and always will love you, no matter what you do, say, or anything else. You accepted me for who I am kind of, and I know what in your twisted little mind, you think you're doing what's best for me, even if that means making mine and Olivia's life miserable."

"How come she got the nicer 'I love you' speech?" Lila pouted.

"But both of you," Alex said, ignoring Lila's question, "are really starting to annoy me right now. You're auguring over something that me and Olivia have resolved. Don't you think that's a little bit, you know, ignorant? On both parts?"

Olivia and Lila met each others eyes and turned back to Alex who took a deep breath before continuing. "Mom, this is mine and Olivia's wedding, don't fight and bitch and argue over everything she picks out. Olivia, this is going to be my only wedding, and I'm her only child. My mother is going to help in some aspects. I want this wedding to be perfect, and unless you two get along in some degree, then that will never happen. Now... can you both handle that or are we going to go to Vegas and get it done by a guy wearing an Elvis costume in a place where there's an all you can eat buffet or just not get married at all? I'm not asking you two to become best friends. What I am asking for is that we just get through these next few days and make it out alive. Now can you both handle that?"

Olivia and Lila both looked down at the floor and muttered various forms of agreement.

Alex did a curt nod. "Good, now. Have we got a church picked out yet?"

"Not yet," Lila admitted, not looking up from the floor. "But I did look online and saw several that looked absolutely gorgeous."

"Fine. Olivia, you go and pick out the church; mom, you call and cancel the justice of the peace and the Marriot and tell them we won't be needing them for the actual wedding after all, but we still want our reception there. Then when Olivia gets home with HER decision, you'll both call up the guests and the venues and tell them where it'll be instead. I will be here, canceling my credit and debit cards, and working on getting a new license."

"Really, Alexandra, don't you think _I_ should pick out the church? I mean she's not our religion and-"

"You pick out the church and I get married in Vegas."

"Oh good lord, Alexandra, really!"

"And I'll be wearing a short black dress, and I'll have it preformed right next to a strip pole while they're still preforming!"

Astounded, Lila nodded and then turned to Olivia who was looking thoughtful.

"Olivia... Shall we?"

"I'll meet you outside."

Lila nodded towards Alex before she turned to Max. "Come on, darling."

With a smile towards Alex, Max, shaking his head and chuckling softly, left.

"Lets see how long this will last," both Alex and Olivia heard him mutter.

Olivia walked over to her, a sly grin on her still bloody and bruised face. "You know... the stripper thing isn't that bad of an idea."

Alex rolled her eyes but still managed to smile back. "Well unless it's you on the pole then I'm not really interested."

"You're such a lier," Olivia said with a smirk.

Alex shrugged as she looked over Olivia's face, slightly grimacing. "You need to get cleaned up, he really did a number on you.'

Olivia shook her head as she wiped the blood away from her nose with the back of her hand. "I'll be fine. Trust me, I've been hit much harder," she reminded Alex as she rubbed her left cheek where only two years ago, half of her bones in the left side of her face had been broken.

"Don't remind me," Alex pleaded as she took Olivia's hand. "I hate even thinking about what that... monster did to you."

Olivia smiled down at her and brought her hand up and kissed the back of it. 'I really love you, Alex, you know that?"

"And I love you."

For a moment, it looked like Olivia was going to lean down and kiss her, but instead all she did was lean over and gently wrapped her arms around her, being carful not to touch her cracked ribs.

"Do you promise to at least try to get along with her?" Alex whispered as she hugged Olivia back. "For me?"

She heard Olivia sigh as she pulled away from the embrace, looking down at her, a sort of disappointment in her eyes. "I'll respect her if she respects me. You can't ask any more of me, Alex, and I'm not going to give her anymore."

Alex nodded, a bit of a frown on her face, not quite expecting that answer.

"Fine. You're absolutely right."

"Thank you," Olivia said with a small smile.

The two lovers looked at one another before Olivia sighed. "Guess I have to go find a church now, huh?"

"Yes. And please, Olivia, don't do anything stupid."

"Like what?" Olivia asked, slightly offended.

"Like booking us a Jewish Temple, or a Wiccin church, or a Pagan... thing. Just get a nice looking _Protestant _church with a good pastor, okay? And make sure they actually preform same sex marriages before you book it."

Olivia rolled her eyes to the roof. "Christian priests who like homosexuals, now that'll be an easy find."

Alex withheld a glare as she spoke "Just get us a church, alright? And it's Protestant, not just Christian."

"God created the world, Jesus died for you, science and rock music are works of the devil, is there really any difference between them?"

"Yes there is, now go."

With another eye roll, Olivia left the hospital room.

Alex sighed heavily and laid down upon her bed, her eyes feeling just as heavy as before Max and Lila had began their visit.

With the thought of Lila and Olivia having the tiniest chance of redeeming themselves, Alex lulled herself to sleep.

PLEASE REVIEW

RIP Ronnie James Dio. Your music will forever live on. 1942-2010


	11. Chapter 11

I own no one but my own people.

A/N So sorry for the long update. Please forgive me and enjoy.

St Michaels Protestant Church, June 9th, 2:30 PM

Olivia sighed as she entered yet another church, almost knowing in her heart what would happen when she told the Reverend she was getting married to a woman.

They would tell her they didn't perform those types of marriages and say sorry but they couldn't help her, just like the other 7 churches that Lila had approved that she had visited over the past five days.

Glancing down at her watch, she let out an audible groan.

She had a final dress fitting at 3:00, and the dress shop was more than 45 minutes away. Even if she sped, something she had hated doing since her crash, she still wasn't going to make it even if the church did agree right away. Then she had to go to the bakery and approve the final version of the cakes, as well as call the reception hall and confirm their reservations. Then if the church actually agreed to perform the service, she still had to call the flower place as well as all of their guests and tell them that they would be at the church instead of at the Country club Alex had joined just so they could have the wedding there, as well as cancel the service there, run down there, and get their deposit back.

To say the least it would be a hectic day for Olivia.

With a heavy sigh, Olivia opened the large double doors and let out a low whistle as she turned around to look at it from every angle.

It was a large building that reached up towards the heavens ending with a point made up of white marble stone with highly polished wooden pews with a crimson aisle that ran down the center and along the two outer walls, the various stained glass windows displaying scenes and people from biblical events that even an Atheist like Olivia had to marvel at.

She turned back towards the front of the church and as she looked down the aisle she couldn't help but smile as she imagined herself in four days standing at the end of it, Alex by her side, her beauty outshining Olivia's as they promised to be with one another forever, to love one another forever.

Suddenly, all of their squabbles and arguments they had over the last few days didn't seem that important.

Taking a deep breath she walked to the front of a church where a young looking man with short brown hair and steely gray eyes who was dawned in a white and gold robe stood in front of one of several marble statues talking to another man dressed in a business suit.

Olivia waited until the Reverend had finished talking before Olivia went up to him.

"Reverend," Olivia said with a smile, "I was wondering if I could talk to you."

The Reverend turned to her and smiled as well. "Of course. What can I help you with, my child?"

"Well I'm getting married in four days and me and my fiancée didn't plan on getting married in a church until my mother in law came and said she really wanted the wedding to be in a church, so we decided that we were going to, for the sake of not hearing an argument, get married in a church."

The Reverend let out a low whistle. "Four days… that's-,"

"A little on short notice, I know, but could you help us?"

The Reverend looked at her for a moment before he nodded. "Of course. Like the good lord, I will be more than happy to help you in your time of need. It will be a very sad day when a Sheppard turns away from one of his flock who is in need."

Olivia's face broke out into a large grin. "Thank you, Reverend, so much!"

The Reverend chuckled and took her hands in his. "Of course, Miss… what did you say your name was?"

"Olivia Benson."

"My dear Olivia, will you please come with me into the office so we can go over the paperwork and fee?"

"Yes of course, thank you so much."

Olivia practically held her breath as they walked into the office, her heart pounding. She was so close to booking it, she could almost taste it!

"Please have a seat," the Reverend said as he closed the door and sat down on the other side of the desk.

"Thank you," Olivia said as she sat down across from him, putting her purse on the ground beside her.

The Reverend took the mouse and clicked a few times before he turned to her once more, "now you said your name was Olivia Benson?"

"Yes."

"Middle name?"

"Magdalena."

"Very pretty. Now your fiancée's name?"

Olivia thought about it a moment before she answered. "Alex Cabot."

"Is the name on the birth certificate Alex or Alexander?"

Taking a deep breath she answered. "It's um… It's Alexan_dra _RosalieCabot."

The Reverend stopped writing to look at her for a moment. "Please tell me your future in laws were particularly cruel when it came to naming their son."

"It's their daughter," Olivia admitted.

Olivia saw him click something before he turned to her, and Olivia had a sinking feeling he had just clicked the little X on the form.

"I'm sorry, Miss. Benson, but the church of Saint Michael does not perform Homosexual marriage ceremonies."

"Please," Olivia pleaded, "it means so much for my in laws and my fiancée that we get married in a church and you're the only Protestant church left in Manhattan!"

"I'm sorry, but we don't allow-,"

"I'll pay extra. My fiancée's a lawyer, her Reverend is a judge, and we can afford any price you want! Just let us be married here, please!"

The Reverend sighed heavily as he looked at her. "It is not a matter of money, Miss. Benson, I assure you. It's a matter of… principle.

"Please," Olivia hated that she was practically begging this man for something she didn't even want in the first place. "My fiancée and her family will be heartbroken if we're not married in a church. You can't put aside your convictions for one day?"

Olivia was astounded to see both sorrow and despair light up in the Reverend eyes. "It's not my own convictions that are holding me back, Miss. Benson."

The Reverend flipped around one of the pictures that had dawned his desk around to face her.

"My… close and single roommate for all intents and purposes," he told her as Olivia looked, now wide eyed at the picture of the Reverend wrapping his arms around a good looking man who looked his age.

"Do your bosses know?"

The Reverend shook his head as he turned the picture around to face him, looking down at the picture with a sad smile. "No. I just say he's my single, straight, Christian roommate when they ask. I love him with all of my heart and soul and how I pray to God that someday we're able to join together as husband and husband in the house of God. He hates it, and I know it hurts him, but… I can't lose my job or my respect of my peers. I'm supposed to be a man of God, and if the bishops found out I was a homosexual, I would be shunned."

Olivia sat in complete silence as she remembered a very similar conversation not even six months ago.

_"I am supposed to be the 'perfect' women. Perfect job, perfect house, marry the perfect man with the same qualities as me and have a perfect child who's supposed to repeat the entire God damn perfect freaking process. And so far, I've gotten the first two down, and since I'm a lesbian, that disrupts the entire cycle. If my parents found out that I'm doing that, then they'll hate me."_

Olivia sighed heavily as she nodded, understanding the man's words more then he knew.

"I'm truly sorry, Reverend. But I'm sure your boyfriend knows just how much you care for him, and how… how much your job means to him, even if he has to suffer for it."

The Reverend smiled at her and gave her a teary smile. "Thank you, Miss. Benson. I'm… so sorry I'm not able to help you. I assure you if I could perform the ceremony, I would in a heartbeat, and I am ashamed that I have to turn away from you in your time of need."

Olivia gave him a small smile. "It's no problem, and thank you, Reverend..."

"Anthony. Christopher Anthony."

They both stood up and the Reverend held out his hand. "Pleasure meeting you Miss. Benson."

"You too, Reverend Anthony."

Olivia gave him another smile as she made her way through the church, trying to erase the images of her and Alex being joined together here.

Once outside, she pulled out her phone and dialed a soon to be memorized number.

"Did you get the church?" Lila's voice rang out, not even wasting a breath on 'hello'.

"He agreed to do it-."

"Excellent!"

"Until he figured out it was a homosexual ceremony."

Lila sighed heavily and Olivia heard a low thud. "What's the next one on your list?"

"There are no more. That was the last Protestant in Manhattan."

"Olivia, come on now!"

"It's not my fault they're not agreeing to do it. I begged him to do it, Lila, and he wouldn't, so there's not a whole lot I could do. I'm sorry," Olivia added, remembering Alex's threat.

"You could have threatened to arrest him."

"I tried that with the fifth one I visited."

"And?"

"The guy said he would rather be arrested. And it wasn't this guy's fault; it was the ministers running the church. Look, Lila, we're four days away… don't you think we should just have it at the venue? I mean some of the churches even said they would do it if it wasn't so close to the date."

"No! My daughter is getting married in a church! I've kept my end of the bargain, and you have to keep yours!"

"I am! I'm letting you be involved, but, Lila, even you know how difficult this is getting to be!

Lila sighed in contempt and Olivia was sure that Lila was having flashes of a wedding in a show floor in Vegas.

"Alright. I had a feeling you wouldn't be able to handle this. I have a little something up my sleeve."

"What?" Olivia asked; dread filling the pit of her stomach.

"Just a little backup plan. Now what time is your dress fitting?"

Olivia glanced at her watch and groaned. "It's now!"

"Olivia, you're ten minute away from the dress shop. I'm sure if you drive, you'll be here well within reason."

"Me and Alex got our dresses at different stores. We didn't want any chance of jinxing the wedding. Alex got hers at Golds and I got mine at David's Bridal."

There were several moments of silence on the other end of the phone call. "You're meaning to tell me my daughter is marrying someone who is getting their dress from the Wal-Mart of Wedding Dresses?"

"I couldn't… I couldn't afford any other place," Olivia admitted, a hot blush breaking out on her face.

Lila scoffed in disbelief, and Olivia could picture her rolling her eyes to the ceiling and back again. "Amazingly enough, that doesn't really surprise me. How much did you end up spending on your dress?"

"450. Lila, are you okay?"

Olivia's eyes widened in fear as she heard Lila cough and gasp for breath, her breaths wheezing.

"450 dollars?" she finally managed to gasp out. "You only spent 450 dollars on your dress?"

"Yes. It's a really pretty dress, Lila. It's-"

"It's probably made from a table cloth!"

"It's beautiful," Olivia snarled, "and I'm sure _Alex_, the woman I'm marrying, and the only person whose opinions I care about, will love it."

"Of course she will. Who wouldn't like free drapes? Is it at least white? Or have you decided to be truthful and go with a blood red?"

Olivia glowered into the phone for a moment before she snapped it shut, turning it on silent and thrusting it into her purse.

Olivia sighed heavily before she looked back up at the church in sorrow for a moment before she turned away from the marble church, a long frown on her face.

David's Bridal, June 9th, 3:45 PM,

"I can't believe you're making me do this with you," Elliot grumbled as he waited outside the changing room.

"You're my Maid of Honor-," Olivia's voice sounded from inside the small room.

"Best Man!"

"Whatever you are, it's your duty to help me with the dress, and I need your advice on the final product."

Elliot sighed loudly as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back in the chair. "Speaking of Best Man duties, don't make any plans on the thirteenth. You, me, Fin, Munch, Cragen, Simon, two kegs, and a huge cake with a stripper coming out of it at my place."

Elliot chuckled as he heard Olivia groan.

"I told you I didn't want a bachelorette party!" Olivia reminded him with another, even louder, groan.

"And I told you I didn't care," Elliot reminded her with a smirk. "I'm your Best Man, your best friend, and your partner. I'm duty bound to get you cocked and put hot dancing naked chicks in front of you the night before your wedding, just like you're going to do for me when I get remarried. Plus it's your last night being a single woman. You should enjoy it."

"I want to enjoy it without alcohol and without hot dancing naked _females_ who are probably half my age!"

"But alcohol and dancing naked _strippers_ are just so much fun, plus I'm kind of hoping you'll get drunk and make out with one of the strippers."

"Don't count on it," she said, and Elliot could hear the dryness in her words. And you think it's a little creepy we're gonna be enjoying girls your daughter's age stripping and dancing in front of us?"

Elliot glowered at the closed door in front of him for a moment. "Why do you have to ruin everything?"

Olivia chuckled from inside the room. "Because you know I'm right, and I love proving that to you. Now shut up and tell me how I look in this."

Elliot groaned loudly as the door opened, rolling his eyes to the heavens. "I really don't see why you couldn't get one of your female friends to help you with this. I don't know how,-"

And he stopped dead.

Olivia took a step out of the room, grinning sheepishly as she smoothed out the silky smooth dress. "Well? Honest opinion."

Elliot looked over the dress, his mouth becoming slightly agape.

It was white and made of a silky material that flowed down to the floor. It was held up by two thick straps, showing just the right amount of cleavage, not overly tight in any place but it showed off just the right amount of her curves, ending with a small of train at the bottom.

"Do you like it? Olivia asked as she twirled around, the dress clinging to her like a glove. "I'm not sure how I'm gonna have my hair done yet, but I'm thinking I'm gonna have it down just because Alex said she was thinking of having hers pinned up. And the shoes are just basic white heels."

Elliot looked her over once more, swallowing hard. "Olivia," he finally spoke after several seconds. "Are you sure you're not attracted to men?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because I want nothing more than to rip that dress off and have you right here on this floor."

"Not gonna lie, that's kind of creepy. But it looks good then?"

"It looks perfect. You're beautiful."

Olivia blushed a deep crimson as she turned to look at herself in the mirror, smoothing out the fabric once more.

"I'm gonna look like shit compared to Alex," she muttered as she twirled in front of the mirror, looking over her dress from every angle.

Elliot rolled his eyes and walked over to her. "You're gonna look amazing, Olivia, even next to Alex."

Olivia scoffed in disbelief as she turned to him. "You're lying, but thanks anyway."

Elliot shook his head in disbelief as he chuckled. "Why do you think she's so much more beautiful than you?"

"Look at her, Elliot," Olivia said as if the answer was obvious. "She's perfect, and I'm… not."

"And please, pray tell, what makes her 'perfect'?"

"She's young. "

"Youth doesn't last forever, and 37 isn't exactly a spring chicken."

"She's blonde."

"She obviously dyes it."

"She beautiful."

"You're more beautiful then she could ever be."

Olivia raised an eyebrow and took a step back from him. "El, did you lose your vision again? She's beyond beautiful and then some. How can you compare her to me?"

"Because you ARE beautiful, Liv. Even if you don't want to see it."

They looked at one another for a few moments before they turned away from one another again.

"Alright, we need to stop with the awkward moments."

"Totally agree."

Both partners were silent for a few moments before Elliot cleared his throat.

"So, Benson… you wanna go get a beer or something?"

"Sounds good, Stabler. Let me go get dressed, pay, and we can go do… friendly cop partner things."

Not looking at one another, Olivia gave a curt nod and walked back into the changing room, quickly stripping out of the dress.

Olivia and Alex's Brownstone, June 9th, 5:37 PM

"I'm not telling you that."

"Why not? I told you mine."

"Because I'm not. That's over the limit.

Olivia scoffed and rolled her eyes as she took another sip of beer as Elliot wrapped his arm tighter around her. "And asking me if I ever ate Alex out was a totally appropriate question. Just tell me when you lost it."

Elliot glowered playfully at her for a moment.

"Why do you want to know so bad?"

"Why are you so ashamed to tell me is the question you should be asking?"

Elliot sighed heavily before he threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine, fine. I was eighteen when I lost it."

Olivia's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she looked up at him.

"Eighteen? What the hell took so long? I lost mine when I was fourteen!"

"I wanted to wait until I found the right girl. And I thought Kathy was the right one.

Olivia shook her head. "You are unbelievable. I didn't know people still thought like that. I mean that's like… ancient."

"Well thanks for making me feel old, Olivia," Elliot said dryly.

Olivia scoffed in disbelief. "Feel old? What are you thinking, you _are_ old!"

"Oh you should talk! Is that a few gray strands I detect."

"Nope, and you wanna know why? Because I just dyed it three weeks ago."

Elliot chuckled as he sighed and leaned back against the couch, Olivia moving closer to him. "Who are we kidding, Liv? We're ancient."

"Last time I checked 45 and 47 is not 'ancient'. Close to middle aged maybe, but not ancient."

"Please. You had your mid life crisis, I'm pretty sure mines coming up…"

"Yeah but I got a hot smoking 37 year old at my side so I automatically lose like five years off my looks."

Elliot shook his head, a smirk growing on his face. "No that just makes you look like a cradle robber."

"Shut up," Olivia laughed as she gave him a gentle push, nearly spilling her beer. "You're such an ass sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah but you love me for it."

Olivia smiled as he kissed the top of her head she laid back in his embrace, a comfortable silence surrounding the two partners for a few moments before someone banged on the door several times.

"Who the hell-?" Olivia began as she moved out of Elliot's arms to answer it, but it slammed open before she could get off the couch, and both she and Elliot jumped up, Elliot forcing Olivia behind him as the intruder stormed in.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Elliot snarled, missing Olivia's groan of annoyance when she saw the man.

"That's my question!" Michael snapped as he stormed over to them, an angry glint in his eyes. "I was just informed by my client, who was finally allowed his phone call from JAIL! That you beat the hell out of him!"

"What client?" Olivia asked as she tried to get from behind Elliot, but Elliot pushed her back again, seeing a bulge in Michael's pocket.

"Edward Lancaster! The man who was supposed to take your place! The man who's a thousand times better for Alexandra then you'll ever hope to be!"

"What do you mean 'take my place'?" Olivia demanded, ignoring the more hurtful words. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Michael scoffed in disbelief and crossed his arms. "Oh what, she didn't tell you? The day you broke up with Alexandra, she and Edward went out on a date! How the hell it ended with the two of them getting mugged in some alley is beyond my understanding, but I fixed them up, and they're probably the best paired couple I have ever dared to dream of! Then you!" Michael looked at Olivia in what only could be described as disgust. "You! You had to come back in her life and ruin everything!"

"You need to get the hell out of here," Elliot growled, using the look he only reserved for perps, but Michael wasn't fazed, only concentrating on Olivia's shocked and hurt face.

"Alex… Alex went out on a date with him?" said Olivia, her voice a soft whisper, unable to comprehend why Alex would ever so much as talk to him much less date him.

Michael nodded a fierce look still on his face. "Yes, and if it weren't for you, they'd be a happy, perfect couple! She could have everything she could have wanted, and now that's shot, because he refuses to be anywhere near her because of YOUR threat!"

Michael growled softly at the look of momentary joy on Olivia's face.

"Oh that's nice!" he snapped, taking a step towards the two partners, Elliot pushing her back further. "Be happy the woman you supposedly love is gonna be stuck at a lowly ADA position for the rest of her life because you're too selfish to let her be with her perfect match! Someone with political aspirations, a Ivy League education, who's the same age as her, and who won't hinder her when she wants to move up the social and political ladder, and who'll she'll look so much better standing next to on the cover of TIME! But you!" Michael let out a humorless laugh. "You are going to ruin her and all that she's ever dreamed about!"

Olivia's face fell, and she was forced to bite her bottom lip to keep from crying.

Elliot stormed over to him, leaving not even an inch of space between the two men, literally shaking with anger. "Leave now!" he snarled, almost daring Michael to not listen to him.

"Piss off!" Michael shouted, pushing Elliot away from him.

"Elliot, don't!" Olivia cried, racing up to him, grabbing him by the arm in a struggle to keep him from attacking Michael who all but backed up against the opposite wall.

"Liv, let go!" Elliot demanded as he tried, and nearly succeeded in getting out of her grasp.

"I'm not letting you lose your badge! Not for me."

The three heard the door open and Elliot stopped struggling for a moment as they turned to see who entered the Brownstone.

"And as you can see, Reverend," Lila's voice rang out as she walked in the living room, a huge, undeniably fake smile on her face, still looking out the door. "Alexandra lives in a very good neighborhood, away from most sin and crime, so very little evil influence."

Olivia raised her brow in confusion as a man with light green eyes, who had to be at least sixty walked in after her, looking around the living room, followed by Alex who rolled her eyes at Lila's statement, her dress wrapped in a dress bad over her shoulders.

"More wealth does not equal less sin, and even the poorest of man can hold love for Christ in his heart. 'He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor'," a man with a soft tone argued.

"Quite true, Reverend, I'm sorry," Lila apologized as she turned towards the living room and stopped dead as she looked over the scene in front of her.

"What's going on here? Michael, darling, why are you quivering in a corner?"

Michael looked over at Elliot who continued to glower at him and he slunk back to his corner.

Lila looked at Elliot and narrowed her eyes at him. "What on earth you do?"

"He pushed me, and I never laid a finger on him."

"You were about to!" Michael shouted with an accusing finger. "If it wasn't for your partner, you would have attacked me!"

" 'If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well' ," the man said calmly as the two men glowered at one another.

" 'And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise' ," Elliot spat bitterly, still glaring at Michael.

"Hang on," Alex said as she held up her hands and walked over to Olivia and standing beside her, gently laying her dress down on the couch. "Before we end up quoting all of King James, what happened?"

"Michael literally burst in here and insulted Olivia!"

"It's fine," Olivia muttered as Alex whipped towards Michael who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"No it isn't fine!" Alex snapped. "What the hell did he say to you?"

"Let's not curse in present company, alright?" Lila said with her sickly sweet smile once more, although her eyes told a different story. "I'm sure Reverend Biro, who has agreed to do the marriage, does not appreciate it."

"I'm sorry," Alex said, not meaning it at all. "But, mom, you can't just hear that someone disrespected your fiancée and,-"

"He didn't disrespect your fiancée,' Olivia said, taking a shaky breath. "Because you don't have a fiancée anymore. I'm sorry, Alex but the wedding's off."

The room grew deathly silent, the only sound which could be heard in the tiny room was Alex's gasp.

"Olivia…," began Alex, her voice trembling, "what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there's not going to be a wedding. I'm breaking up with you."

Alex looked at Elliot who looked just as shocked as Alex before looking back to Olivia who was desperately trying not to cry in front of them.

"Oh for heaven's sake, how many times must we go through this charade?" Lila snapped angrily, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "No offense, Olivia, but it's getting rather old and quite repetitive! Alexandra didn't even see you today! What could she have possibly done to annoy you _again_?"

"It wasn't Alex, I swear to god, it's nothing Alex did or said!" cried Olivia almost desperately, almost pleading with Lila and the rest of the company to believe her. "It's something I did… I'm not good for her."

"Olivia, that's not true," Alex pleaded with her, taking her hands in hers, her heart breaking in two when Olivia pulled them away. "You're perfect for me! You're everything I could ever want!"

Olivia shook her head. "No I'm not. You deserve someone better than me. You deserve-,"

"Edward Lancaster," Michael interrupted, not even having the decency to hide his obvious cheeriness. "If I was to tell him that you an Olivia split up, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to give you another shot."

Without warning, Elliot stormed over to him looking as furious as any had ever seen him, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck.

"Let go of me!" Michael shouted, his voice going up several octaves in fright. "You're hurting my arm!"

"Shut up or me hurting your arm is gonna be the least of your problems! Elliot snarled, wrenching the door open and literally throwing Michael out, smiling a big a smile as he could remember as Michael literally rolled onto the sidewalk, coming to rest on a fire hydrant.

With a small chuckle, Elliot shut and locked the door behind him.

"Liv," Alex pleaded once more, tears making their way down both women's faces. "That's not true. Whatever he said to you, don't believe it. I belong with you, I want you."

Olivia shook her head. "But I'm not right for you, Alex. I'm sorry."

Olivia looked towards Elliot who now looked as solemn as if he was at a funeral. "Will you let me bunk over at your place for a few days?"

Elliot sighed heavily and shook his head. "You're making a huge mistake, Olivia. He's wrong; about everything."

"Please," Olivia spoke again, sorrow heavy in her voice. "Either just say yes or I'm paying for a hotel for the night."

Elliot looked at her for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, you can stay with me, I guess."

With a forced smile that looked more like a grimace instead of a smile, Olivia began to walk upstairs, Alex following in a heartbeat.

"What?" Alex sobbed angrily, following Olivia to their bedroom. "After all the shit we've been through, you're just gonna leave?"

"Don't curse!" Lila's voice rang from downstairs, followed by a low muttering of "I wonder how long this break up is going to last."

Both Alex and Olivia ignored the jibe as Olivia walked into the bedroom, going straight for the closet and grabbed a duffel bag, which Alex then ripped out of her hands.

"Give me the bag, Alex."

"No, you're not leaving me until I get some explanation!"

"I gave you one, I'm not good for you. Now give me the bag."

"That's not good enough, or true!" Alex shouted desperately.

"Yes it is."

"No it's not! After all the crap we've had to go through to get to this point, that's not enough in the slightest!"

Olivia glared at her but Alex held her ground firmly. "Give me the bag."

"Tell me why you're leaving."

"Give me the bag!"

"Tell me why you're leaving!"

Olivia took a step closer, but Alex was unfazed, an iron clad grip on the duffel bag

"Give, me," Olivia growled lowly, "the, BAG!"

"Tell, me," Alex said, almost mimicking her, "why, you're, LEAVING!"

"GIVE ME THE FUCKING BAG!" shouted Olivia as she grabbed the bag, but Alex yanked it back, just a tight grip on it as Olivia's.

"DON"T CURSE!"

Olivia relinquished the hold on the bag, making Alex stumble back several feet as she threw up her hands in defeat. "You want a reason? Fine! I'll give you a reason! Because I don't want to screw up your life!"

Alex regained her footing, looking at Olivia in shock. "You… you what? Olivia, how the hell will you screw up my life?"

Olivia's face softened as she ran a hand through her hair, sniffling back tears. "You can't win Senator with me as your wife, Alex, you can't and there's no point trying to deny it. You'll never advance in the political world, and you'll be miserable for the rest of your life, and I don't want to make you hate me for holding you back or for ruining your life."

Olivia sniffed once more and wiped away her tears as Alex stood in the middle of the room utterly stunned. "I mean," Olivia continued as she walked to the bed and sat down at the end of it, looking down at the carpet. "I'm nothing like you, Alex. You went to NYU and have a Masters, you're rich, you're eight years younger than me, and you know more about politics than I could hope to learn in a dozen lifetimes. You want to live in some huge house in Washington and want to become president… I'm going to hinder you in every way I can think of."

Alex looked at her for a moment before she walked over and sat down beside her, taking her hand in hers.

"Olivia, look at me," Alex pleaded softly, as if she had lived a hundred years of pain. "I want to look you dead in the eyes when I say this."

Alex reached over and put a single finger under her chin, forcing her head towards her.

Alex simply gazed at her for a moment, gently wiping the tears that had fallen with her other hand.

"I love you," Alex said, her voice steady, although she herself was trembling. "I love you more than I could ever hope to love anyone else. And I could never in my entire life hate you. I don't care if you're eight years older than me or eight minutes, I don't care if you have a Bachelors from Sienna or a Doctrine from Harvard, you could be jobless for all I care about how much money you have, and I certainly don't care that you don't know a lot about politics, something even I don't understand all the way. In all honesty, I love that you don't know a lot of about politics because I can actually win in a debate with you when we talk about that stuff."

Olivia managed a teary chuckle which Alex quickly smiled at. "And you're not gonna hinder me in my career, Liv. If people don't vote me in because of who I'm married to and what I am, then that's their problem. And I love my job as a lawyer; I could do it the rest of my life and be ecstatic about my job every day. I'm not gonna lie, I want to go into politics. I honestly would be overjoyed if I got voted in the Senate, but if I don't because people don't want a lesbian serving next to them or because I married a Democratic cop who I love as opposed to a Republican political douche that I hate beyond anything, then I'm not gonna hate you for that. You might hear me curse and scream and cry for about two weeks, but I swear it's you, not them. Plus it's kind of hard to get elected when your campaign manager just got his ass handed to him by my wife's best friend. I doubt he's gonna wanna work with me again. "

Olivia laughed once more and wiped away her own tears. "Michael got to me tonight. He was saying all this crap about me wrecking your life, and how I was gonna ruin it because you won't be able to get elected and it just… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made that scene downstairs, especially with the Reverend."

"Please," Alex scoffed as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, unable to hide a smile. "The times we've been broken up in the past two weeks, I'm sure they looked at it with a grain of salt."

Olivia chuckled and nodded. "I don't know if I should be happy or embarrassed about that statement."

"Well considering we've gotten back together each time, it can't be that bad."

"Good point."

The two women looked at one another before Alex reached in and kissed her, her tongue playing at the narrow valley in between Olivia's lips.

Olivia opened her mouth, running her hands through Alex's hair, pulling her closer, as if they were afraid to let go of one another.

Alex kissed her on her jawbone, moving her mouth up until she reached Olivia's ear.

"You know we didn't say we're back together," Alex panted softly, nipping at her ear, enjoying Olivia's gasp, "so technically that whole 'wait until the wedding night' thing doesn't count because as of now, there is no wedding."

Alex began to move her hand up Olivia's shirt, going under her bra, gently massaging her breast.

Olivia chuckled softly. "I almost forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me."

Forcing herself to do so, Olivia pushed Alex's hand back down.

Alex huffed angrily and pulled away from her, narrowing her eyes playfully at her.

"It's four days until the wedding… you're really gonna hold out another four more freaking days?"

Olivia laughed out loud and nodded, smiling at her. "Four more days... and I promise you."

Olivia kissed her on the lips, pulling away before Alex could wrap her arms around her. "We will do whatever you want to do."

"Okay, I lied… I discovered I can hate you."

"You'll get over it," Olivia said with playful grin, giving her a quick peck on the lips before getting off of the bed and walking over to the bag, throwing it carelessly back into the closet.

Alex shook her head before she got off the bed and went over to Olivia.

Taking her hand, the two women made their way back downstairs.

"So is there going to be a ceremony or am I going to be rendered unnecessary?" the Revered asked as they made their way into the living room, Elliot, and Lila sitting on the couch, the Reverend sitting on the chair. "Remember, 'hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs'."

"No, Revered, you're necessary, I promise," Olivia said with an apologetic smile. "And I'm sorry about that, by the way. It's just… I got cold feet, I guess you could say."

The Reverend nodded. "I understand completely, child. Forgive me, but we haven't been introduced properly. I'm Reverend Steven Biao," he said with a gentle smile as he stood up and shook Olivia's hand. "I'm Lila and Max's Reverend up in Albany."

"Olivia Benson. I'm Alex's fiancée.

At once Steven's face grew solemn as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to know, Ms. Benson, that I and my congregation have been praying very hard for you these last few months."

"Why would I need prayers?"

Steven simply gave her a sad smile and patted her shoulder. "It's alright, my dear. If you ever need anyone to talk to just remember that I'm here for you, and that the church offers our less fortunate brothers and sisters full charity supports. After all, 'for there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.' "

Olivia continued to look confused as she turned to Lila who seemed to be very interested in the carpet all of a sudden.

"Lila, what did you tell-"

"So anyway," Lila interrupted loudly with a forced chuckle, ignoring both Alex's and Olivia's looks. "Reverend Biro has agreed to perform the ceremony."

"And in a Manhattan church as well," Alex said with a huge grin that Olivia couldn't help but smile at.

"Well," Lila said with a scoff and a roll of her eyes, "if you want to count _that _place as a church then-."

" 'And when you pray," Father Brio began, and Lila groaned softly in annoyance but he choose to ignore it. "Do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you'."

"Sorry, Reverend," Lila said rather snuffy, "but that mentions nothing about getting married in a small, miniscule church that looks like it belongs at the end of some red neck country road."

"It doesn't matter where these two women are joined; God will be shining and smiling down upon their union. It does not matter if the house of the Lord reaches the clouds, or if it is a single roof and four walls."

"Yes, but a church reaching the clouds will look so much better in wedding photos. Surly God understands that."

Steven chuckled kindly and shook his head. "Oh my dear Lillian… "He said to them, 'Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for-,"

"Thank you, Reverend," Lila interrupted with a clearly forced smile.

Lila looked at her watch and then looked back up at Steven. "It's almost six. Do you want to stay for dinner, Reverend?"

Steven nodded. "Of course. After All, 'he who-."

"Excellent, I believe we have some chicken in the freezer!"

Lila got off of her place on the couch and Alex and Olivia sat down next to one another.

"Thank you so much for doing this for us, Reverend. It really means a lot to us."

Steven smiled at the two of them. "Of course. I find it reprehensible that many of my fellow Reverends and Pastors and Ministers frown upon people like you. God made you who you are, there is no reason to be ashamed, or why you two shouldn't be joined in love like a man and woman."

"Thank you," Olivia said with a grin.

Elliot smiled and rubbed Olivia's back before he got off the couch.

"I gotta get going, actually. I have a junk load of stuff to do before the wedding?"

"Like what?" Alex asked with a scoff as Elliot went over to the door.

"Oh you know, just normal Best Man stuff…"

"Elliot," Olivia warned her eyes widening, "I swear to god, no party!"

Elliot crossed his heart. "Fine. I will give you an Englishman's promise I won't throw you a party."

With a small bow he left the house, shutting the door behind him.

Olivia gave a content smile before she leaned against the couch, sighing contently, closing her eyes for a brief moment of relaxation.

Alex thought for a moment before she turned to Olivia.

"Um… isn't Elliot one hundred percent Irish?"

With a flash, Olivia opened her eyes and jumped up from the couch, rushing to the door, wrenching it open and slamming it hard behind her.

Alright, alright, I know I promised it'll get light M, but it just didn't feel right in this chap. And this part of the saga is coming to an end soon, only a small handful of chapters left. So PLEASE review and you'll be getting a lot more a lot sooner, I promise :).


	12. Chapter 12

I own no one

A/N I've made myself a vow, to get this story done and over with before the start of the new semester, the 26th of August.

**June 13****th****, 6:34 PM, Alex and Olivia's Brownstone**

"I hate Elliot," Olivia muttered as she crossed her arms defiantly as Alex looked through the white binder with a pen in hand. "I told him no party, and what does he do? Go gets God knows how many kegs and a shit load of strippers."

"I thought it was my job to complain about you getting drunk and having naked women dancing in front of you," Alex said with a smirk as she checked off 'dresses'.

Olivia opened her mouth to reply, but instead she sneezed into the tissue she hastily pulled out of a box on the nightstand "Sorry," she said as she wiped her nose before throwing it into the wastebasket next to her bed, "but I don't want to get completely drunk and come to the wedding completely hung over. Plus not to mention I'm a slutty drunk and I don't want Simon to see me like that," Olivia muttered.

"No one is gonna be forcing you to drink, Olivia," Alex said over Olivia's sudden coughing as she checked 'church'. "Just have a beer or two and you'll be fine. You're forty six, you know your limits. And did you call the reception hall and confirmed us for tomorrow?"

"Yes as well as the DJ, caterers, and flower place, although I still hate the flowers she picked out for us, and they said they'll all good, but aren't you supposed to be like," she sneezed into another tissue once more," sorry, "but aren't you supposed to be protesting me not to go? Like saying it'll be wrong if I go and what not?"

Alex shrugged as she made several more checkmarks on the list still not looking up at her, "I don't care if you go out and have fun as your last night as a single woman. Just as long as you show up sober and clear headed tomorrow, I'll be fine. And are you getting sick? You've been sneezing and coughing a lot lately."

Olivia shook her head as she coughed once more. "I'm sure it's just all this dog dander finally getting the best of me, no big deal. I'll take some Tylenol and be fine by morning."

"Good, because I don't want anything ruining tomorrow," Alex said as she looked down at the list frowning. "I want it to be absolutely perfect. And did Elliot say if all the tuxes were picked up or not?"

"Yes, he said they'll all good, and I promise you it will be absolutely perfect," Olivia coughed as Alex made another checkmark. "It is going to be everything you ever wanted and then some."

Alex looked up from her binder for the first time in an hour and smiled at her. "As long as you're there, I know it will be."

Olivia chuckled, ignoring the tiny painful sting in her throat. "You're lying, but thanks for trying to reassure me."

Alex smiled and moved in to kiss her but was interrupted when the door slammed open.

"Stop it," Lila said shortly as she came in and sat down on the bed in-between the two women, holding something in her hand.

"Care to join us, Lila," Olivia said rather dryly, grabbing another tissue and sneezing into it, throwing that one away into the waste basket as well.

"I care to join Alexandra alone, so if you wouldn't mind leaving, I would really appreciate it."

Olivia raised her brow in an annoyed fashion, but Alex shook her head, silently begging her not to get into it once more with her mother so close to the wedding.

Olivia shrugged in indifference. "Fine, I have to go get ready anyway."

Getting up from the bed and muttering loudly, letting out another cough, Olivia left the room, leaving the two Cabot women alone.

"Mom, you promised not to be mean to her anymore," Alex scolded as Lila sat beside her.

Lila scoffed in disbelief as she rolled her eyes. "When on earth have I ever been mean to that woman?"

Biting her tongue, Alex allowed Lila to continue. "And anyway, it's the day before your wedding. I believe I'm entitled to a few minutes alone with you, am I not?"

Alex raised her own brow in confusion as Lila took a deep breath and handed the tiny wrapped package that was in her hand to her.

"What is it?" Alex asked as she took the package from Lila.

"Well if I wanted to kill the suspense, I wouldn't have bothered wrapping it would I?"

Withholding a heavy sigh, Alex quickly un-wrapped the package, pulling out a flat square black velvet box.

Opening the black box, Alex gasped lightly when she saw what was inside the box.

"Oh god, Mom," Alex breathed as she ran her fingers lightly over the string of shiny white pearls, her eyes widening at the shear perfection of the tiny jewels.

Lila took them from the box and sat behind Alex.

"These particular pearls were given to my great grandmother as a wedding gift by her mother," Lila explained as she moved her hair over Alex's shoulder, "she wore them once, on her wedding day, as have all the women in our family since then. She gave them to my grandmother on her wedding day, and she gave them to my mother, who gave them to me, and I in turn am giving them to you."

With a tiny click, the pearls locked in place and Alex gently ran her fingers across the necklace, the smooth beautiful beads lying softly on her chest.

Alex bit back tears as she turned to Lila who amazed Alex at having her own tears in her eyes. "I thought… I thought you didn't like Olivia. Why would you give me this if you don't support the marriage?"

Lila took a deep breath and ran her hands through Alex's hair. "You're my daughter, Alexandra. All I've wanted for you, all I've ever wanted for you, is for you to be happy. I've learned these past few weeks that Olivia does make you happy. When you're around her, you practically glow, and the way you look at one another… not even Romeo and Juliet could have a deeper love than what you two have.

I may not like Olivia personally, and I'm not gonna lie, I don't like a lot of things about her just like I'm positive there's things about me she's not fond of, but she loves you Alexandra, and you love her. And I can't ask for anything more than that from the person you choose to be with… even if she is a Democrat. And if you can be half as happy as me and your father are, and last as long as we have in the day and age when divorces are given out like candy, then you'll have truly made something out of this relationship."

Alex looked down at the string of pearls for a moment before she looked back up at Lila whose tears were now freely flowing down her care worn face, her age truly showing.

"I love you, Alex," Lila whispered, for the first time since before Alex could remember, using her nickname.

Letting out a sob; Alex wrapped her arms around Lila's neck, burying her face in her neck, Lila hugging her just as tightly.

"I love you too, mom."

They continued to hug for several moments before they finally pulled apart.

Lila quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes and let out what sounded like a sob mixed with a laugh. "Oh good lord I'm blubbering like a child."

Alex looked on in silence as Lila took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before turning to Alex once more. "Well I'm uh… I'm going to make sure my outfit is all put together for tomorrow. You should do the same, alright? Heaven forbid you show up to the church without the right shoes."

Alex let out a chuckle and nodded. "Alright, as soon as Olivia leaves I'll pull out my dress and make sure I have all the pieces."

Lila gave her another smile and pushed the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind Alex's ear. "I truly am happy for you, Alexandra. Even if Olivia and I don't get along, I'm proud of you for finding someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved."

Alex bit her lips to keep the tears from falling once more as Lila wiped her eyes with yet another tissue and stood up.

"Well, I'll leave you to continue organizing. If you excuse me."

With a tiny nod, Lila left the bedroom leaving Alex looking after her.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Olivia had to bite back her own tears as she looked up at the ceiling thinking only one thing, "god I miss you, mom."

**June 13****th****, 9:47 PM, Elliot's Apartment**

"To Olivia!" Munch slurred as he held onto the end table, holding up his seventh glass of seven and seven, the sounds of ACDC in the background almost drowning his words out. "May she and Alex have lots of hot angry sexy lesbian sex, and may I be there to tape it all!"

"And you better be sure to give my ass a copy," Fin said as he too raised his drink, Elliot nodding eagerly in agreement.

"Good luck with that," Olivia said with a laugh as she raised her own drink, nearly spilling it when she coughed violently once more.

"And to Elliot," Munch continued still holding his glass aloft, "for convincing her to come and get completely thrashed as her last night as a single woman!"

"Considering she's only had half a beer in the entire hour she's been here, I don't think 'getting thrashed' is the right word for it," Elliot said with an eye roll.

"I don't want to be hangover tomorrow, I mean one of my bridesmaids already is," she said as she motioned over to Munch who had just said a cheer for 'god for creating lesbians'. "And I just-."

She sneezed again and groaned as she leaned back into the chair, closing her eyes and rubbing her temple with her hand.

"You alright?" Cragen asked as he took a drink of his seltzer. "You've been sneezing and coughing since you got here."

"I'm fine, I just got a bit of a headache," she assured him, thinking that 'little' was a big understatement.

"Do you want me to turn the music down?" Elliot asked as he put his own drink down on the table.

Olivia shook her head as she took another tentative bite of the pizza in front of her, the food burning her throat the entire way down and settling uneasily into her stomach, "no, I'll be fine. I took some Tylenol before I left so I should be fine in a little bit."

Reassuring them, she took another drink of the beer, that too stinging her throat, unable to withhold the wince as her throat burned even more.

Elliot opened his mouth to ask her again as he saw the wince she gave when she took a drink but was interrupted by three loud knocks on the door.

"Wonder who that is?" Elliot asked to no one in particular as he went over to the stereo and turned off the music. "I'll get it," Elliot offered as he practically ran over to the door.

He opened it and Olivia looked over at the door and had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes when she saw a very good looking woman in her early twenties dressed in a blue and black leather corset with a very short blue and black leathered skirt with what looked like six inch black heels, a boom box in her left hand and a police hat on top of her wavy caramel colored hair that flowed down her back.

"Excuse me," the woman snapped as she shoved by Elliot and stormed into the apartment.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Elliot asked the woman, to Olivia's surprise, with a completely straight face.

"Yes," she said as she looked around the tiny gathering of people, her dark green eyes landing on Olivia. "There have been complaints that there's a party going on here." She walked over to the chair where Olivia was sitting, swinging her hips the entire way before she kneeled on either side of Olivia's legs, her chest right in her face as she ran her long nailed fingers through Olivia's hair. "And there was no police supervision," the stripper said with a smug grin, her voice going from stern to sultry.

Olivia raised her brow as she looked past her to Elliot whose straight face had disappeared into a full blown smile. "A cop, really? You not only completely disregarded my wishes to not only not have a party but not have strippers, but you had to make a mockery of our profession in the process?"

Elliot shrugged as the stripper got off the chair, making sure that her chest was on Olivia's body until she got off of her completely before she bent over, her ass in Olivia's direction before pressing play, and 'Cheery Bomb' by Warrant began playing.

The stripper quickly stood up and faced Olivia, taking her hat and throwing it away from her, long wavy caramel colored hair falling down her back as she made her way to Olivia, a smirk never leaving the strippers face, her eyes never leaving Olivia's no matter how much Olivia tried to look away.

Simon cleared his throat as he downed the rest of the beer, a red hot blush appearing on his face. "I think that's my cue to leave."

He tried to make his way off the couch, but Fin grabbed him and pulled him back down.

"Dude, an incredibly hot lesbian is about to get a strip tease from an equally hot stripper. How can you not want to see this?"

"That incredibly hot lesbian is my sister."

Fin thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "Alright, go away."

Simon got up from his chair, set his drink down and left the room.

The stripper ran her hands through her hair before she hastily turned around, her head snapped back towards Olivia, and Olivia swallowed hard as the stripper very slowly unzipped the shirt, still moving her ass before she shrugged her shoulders so it slid down her arms in one fluid motion.

"Oh god," Olivia groaned as the stripper took off the jacket one arm at a time, the remaining men in the room cheering her on as she held the jacket up with both hands.

The stripper turned back around to face her again, the jacket covering her chest, before she removed it with one hand revealing a black leather bra with gold police shields on either breast before she let it drop to the floor.

Olivia ran a shaky hand through her hair as the stripper ran her hands over her chest and down her stomach before resting on the zipper and slowly unzipped it before she turned around once again, looking over her shoulder she bent down and stuck her ass high in the air before she removed the skirt in one smooth motion, stepping out of it and turning back to Olivia, now wearing nothing but the leather bra and a leather thong with handcuffs on the front of them.

She strutted over to Olivia smirking as she stepped onto the arm of the chair where she was sitting, running her hands slowly up her leg and thigh before making their way over her stomach, her breasts and finally running through her hair before she stepped off of the chair and slowly walked backward, maintaining eye contact the entire time.

Facing her, she put her hands on the bra straps and shrugged them off slowly before she turned around so her back was towards Olivia once again.

A smug grin on her face, her hands went around to the back and undid the bra, still holding it over her breasts.

She turned to face Olivia once more, a suitable wicked expression on her face and with one arm across her chest, holding the bra in place, she used her other hand to pull the bra out from beneath her breasts nice and slowly.

She dropped the bra but still hand her other arm covering her breasts before she slowly moved her hand away, stroking her fingers across each breast as she went.

"I gotta go," Olivia muttered as she got off of the couch and ran into the bathroom.

The stripper raised an eyebrow in confusion as she looked over at a very confused Elliot, both hands covering her breasts now.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, her voice no longer sultry but now soft and confused.

"No," Elliot said as he turned off the CD player, hearing Olivia emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

"Guess she can't hold her liquor," Fin said with a smug smirk as he took another drink of his own beer.

"She had half a beer," Elliot mused, "it takes at least thirteen bottles for her to get drunk, and trust me if she was drunk, the strippers clothes wouldn't be the only ones lying around. I'm gonna go see if she's okay."

Leaving the group and making his way into the bathroom where Olivia was kneeling in front of the toilet, groaning loudly.

"Liv, you alright?"

Olivia groaned loudly and shook her head. "I'll be fine," she moaned before she gagged and threw her head back into the toilet and Elliot rushed over and held her hair back as she puked once more.

"Oh god I feel horrible," Olivia muttered as she leaned her head up against the cold toilet bowl.

"Maybe it's just nerves?" Elliot offered as he rubbed her back.

Olivia shook her head, "I've been feeling crummy all day, and I don't know what the stripper is wearing, but the smell of it is just so overwhelming, it just-."

But she was forced to stop again as she puked into the toilet once more.

"Its strawberry body crème," a voice called from the doorway.

Elliot and Olivia looked to find the stripper, now wearing her shirt and skirt again standing in the doorway looking concerned. "But it's not my scent that did it. I mean my scent was a contributing factor but that's not why you're sick."

"What do you mean?" Olivia groaned as the stripper walked in and bent down next other, taking her face in her hands, looking her over.

"Your lymph nodes are obviously swollen. Say ahh," the stripper instructed.

"Ahh? What are you a doctor on the side now?" Elliot scoffed in disbelief.

"Medical student in my last year at NYU majoring in Infectious Diseases before I begin my residency, actually," she said not taking her eyes from Olivia. "Say ahh, please."

Olivia moaned in annoyance before she opened her mouth and the stripper looked inside for a few moments before she pulled away from her and put her hand against her forehead and held it there for a second before she pulled away, looking at Olivia with a dead serious look on her face.

"I'm so sorry to tell you this but.-"

"What?" Olivia asked, the words causing her almost unbearable pain, her eyes wide with panic. "What is it?"

"You have gastroenteritis."

"Which is…?"

"The stomach flu."

Olivia groaned loudly and shook her head. "No! I can't have the flu! I'm getting married tomorrow at two PM and off on a two week honey moon trip in Florida with tickets and a very nice and expensive hotel room that are all non refundable!"

The stripper shook her head. "What you need is rest and fluids. Sorry, but there's not a snowball's chance in hell at you getting married tomorrow."

Olivia glared at the stripper for several moments. "Do you know the kind of shit I've had to go through these past two weeks? The mother in law I've had to endure? All to get told by some stripper-,"

"And med student."

"And med student, that I can't get married tomorrow?"

The stripper shrugged before she stood up. "I don't know what to tell you unless you want to torture yourself tomorrow, don't do it."

She looked at Elliot and held out her hand. "Can I get paid now? Tuitions due in two weeks."

Without looking at her, Elliot got out his wallet and pulled out three hundred dollars and handed it to her.

"Thank you, you were amazing, and sorry it ended like this."

"It's fine. I just hope you feel better," she added with a smile towards Olivia before she left the bathroom, her heels clicking on the linoleum floor.

Olivia groaned once more before she thrust her head back into the bowl letting loose once more.

"I'm going," she gasped, breathing heavily, "to be married tomorrow. I don't care what she says!"

"Well Olivia, if you're sick then maybe you and Alex can reschedule."

Olivia shook her head frantically, a sheen of sweat breaking out on her forehead. "No! I'm getting married tomorrow come hell, high water, or the stomach flu!"

With a determined nod, she made a move to stand up again before she collapsed on the floor again, barley making it to the toilet before she vomited once again.

Elliot held her hand back and rubbed her back. "Sure you will, Liv," he thought as he shook his head, "sure you will."

Please Review, only one chapter left.


	13. Chapter 13

I own no one but my own people.

A/N Wow, 261 reviews for 12 chapters… you all seriously rock! Hopefully I can break 300 for the next installment of this series. Speaking of which there is another even bigger surprise once you hit the end of this chapter. Enjoy :)

June 15th, 10:47 AM, Alex and Olivia's brownstone.

"Alexandra! Alexandra, wake up this instant!" Lila's voice practically screeched as she slammed the bedroom door open, Alex shooting up in bed.

"Whasgoinon?" Alex muttered as she rubbed the tired from her eyes, Lila all but running to the side of the bed and grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out of bed.

"Oh good heavens, I should have known better then to allow you to manage your time today!" Lila snapped as she practically dragged the still half asleep Alex to the bathroom.

"What time is it?" Alex asked groggily as Lila pushed her into the bathroom.

"Ten minutes to eleven!"

Alex came to a dead stop and whirled Lila around to see her. "What? What the hell do you mean? Olivia was supposed to wake me up before she left to go over to Elliot's at eight AM!"

Lila scoffed in disbelief as rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Olivia never came home from Elliot's last night."

Alex shook her head. "No. I mean she promised me she wouldn't be getting that drunk!"

"Maybe she decided to save time and just sleep over there, which sounds like a good idea considering we're running very late!"

"Her dress and shoes is over here. Why the hell wouldn't she come home last night?"

"I'll figure that out, you go get washed! I'll make sure your dress and shoes and whatnot is all good. We have to be to the hairdresser by eleven forty five, Alexandra, for the love of god, hurry!"

Pushing her into the bathroom and slamming the door, Lila all but ran back into Alex's room and grabbed her cell phone, about to dial Olivia's number before it rang.

She quickly answered it and brought it to her ear. "Alexandra Cabot's phone, this is Lillian Cabot," she spoke as she rushed over to the closet and grabbed Alex's wedding dress from the closet and laid it flat on the bed before doing the same with the veil

"Hi, Lillian, this is Richard Diverge, an employee at San's Bakery. I'm afraid I have some bad news regarding the cake."

Lila groaned as she rushed back into the closet and grabbed the shoes from the closet floor and threw them on the bed next to the dress. "What's wrong?"

"Well, we delivered the cake, and it appears the employee who input the shipping address for the cake put in the address wrong."

"So deliver it to the right one," Lila said hastily as she got the stockings and garter and tossed them next to the bed before grabbing the already packed suitcase and groaning slightly as she rolled that next to the bed. She would have Max bring it down stairs and put it in the car later.

"Well we would, but the address caused us to undercharge Alex the shipping and handling of the cake, and we're short ten dollars and forty eight cents, and until we get that, we can't deliver the cake to the reception hall."

Lila stopped dead and looked at the phone for a moment before putting it back up to her ear. "My daughter's wedding is at two thirty, we're already running horribly late, and you're telling me for a lousy eleven dollars, you're not going to deliver the cake?"

"Um… yes."

"You listen to me, and you listen well!" she shouted at the man as she went over to Alex's bed side stand and got out her earrings and the pearl necklace and laid them gently down on the bed as well, "I swear on all that is good and holy, that cake had better be at that reception hall at the designated time or trust me you will never work in this city again! My husband is a politician, my daughter is an Assistant District Attorney, and my future… son in law is a detective in the Special Victims Unit, and trust me, Mr. Diverge; hell hath no fury like the mother of a bride on her daughter's wedding day!"

Lila listened for a moment before she heard the man on the phone clear his throat. "I can always just, you know, have the server collect it from someone at the reception."

"I think that is a very sensible idea," Lila practically growled into the phone before she flipped it shut.

Taking several deep breaths that did nothing for her nerves, Lila threw the phone down on the bed and practically rushed out of the bedroom, nearly crashing into someone.

"Still ashamed to say you're getting a daughter in law?" Elliot spat as he glared at Lila.

"What on earth do you want, Mr. Stable? As you can see I'm very busy!"

"I'm here to get Olivia's dress and stuff."

Lila crossed her arms, cocking an eyebrow at him. "And why couldn't Olivia come get this stuff herself? As a matter of fact, why on earth didn't she come home last night?"

Elliot was silent for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck, following Olivia's threat of death not to tell either Lila or Alex she was not only sick, but had gotten worse since last night and the mere thought of riding in a car made her vomit. "She… she didn't want to risk seeing Alex on her wedding day. Its bad luck, after all," he lied convincingly.

"Someone should explain to her that it's only bad luck if the _groom_ sees the bride before the wedding, not if the bride sees the bride before the wedding. Anyway," she said as Elliot glowered at her remark. "All of her stuff is stacked neatly in the closet, thanks to me, and you can bring her suitcase down to their car as well."

"Thanks," he muttered as he moved past her into the bedroom.

Lila took a deep breath and was about to go into the guest room before the bathroom door opened and Alex stepped out, wearing nothing but a towel.

"Go get dressed in a T-shirt and jeans and meet me in the car, and bring your veil with you, I'll get the rest of your stuff. After the hair appointment, we go to the reception hall, make sure everything is okay there, then we'll head over to the church."

"But I still don't know where Olivia is!" Alex protested as she ran her fingers through her still damp hair.

"Elliot said she didn't want to see you the day of the wedding, she believes the old wives tale about it being bad luck. He's in your room getting her stuff to take over to his house now."

Alex looked a little apprehensive as she bit her bottom lip. "Then why didn't she call me?"

"Who cares? God lord, Alexandra, we're in a hurry! Now go!"

Withholding a glare, Alex nodded before going into bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Lila shook her head and forced herself to take a deep breath.

"Oh god in heaven, save my sanity," she muttered as she walked into the guestroom to get ready herself.

June 15th, 11:42 PM, Elliot's Apartment

Olivia groaned as she applied her makeup, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes as the bright bathroom lights almost caused her physical pain.

She winced in pain as the sound of someone running up the steps echoed in her pounding head.

The bathroom door opened and Elliot stepped in, offering a truly sympathetic smile.

"How you doin'?"

"I want to die," she moaned as she applied her mascara. "Did you get my dress and shoes and junk?"

"Even had Alex double check I got everything, it's in the car all nice and neat. Liv, are you sure you don't want to post pone the wedding for a week?"

Olivia shook her head. "No. I told you I'm-."

She stopped short and took several deep shaky deep breaths as she forced the contents of her stomach down once more. "Fine," she whispered in a shaky breath, wiping her brow.

Elliot raised his brow in disbelief as she turned back to the mirror, putting her lip gloss on, forcing her hand to be steady.

Finishing with a bit of blush, she turned around and looked at Elliot.

"How do I look?"

"Like you're ready to pass out."

Olivia rolled her eyes before she turned back to the mirror and looked at herself for a moment and forced a smile on her face. "I, Olivia Benson, take you, Alex Cab-,"

Pushing Elliot out of the way, she ran to the toilet and got down on her knees and threw up for the tenth time that morning.

Elliot went over and held her hair away back, rolling his eyes.

"Olivia, you're sick," he pleaded softly when she had finished.

"I'm okay!" she protested, and he swore he heard tears in her voice. "I promised Alex the perfect wedding, and that's what she's gonna get!"

"She'll understand if you're sick, sweetie."

"I can't let her down like this."

Sighing heavily, Elliot nodded and helped her stand up.

"What time do you get your hair done?"

"Twelve thirty."

"Go get dressed. I'll meet you in the car, alright?"

Olivia nodded as well before she hugged Elliot around the neck.

"What's this for?" Elliot asked as he hugged her back.

"For being my best friend."

Elliot chuckled and rubbed her back. "You never have to thank me for that, baby, I promise."

Holding onto one another for several more seconds, they finally released and Olivia truly smiled for the first time all day at him.

Her smile quickly disappeared and she vomited into his toilet once again, Elliot continuing to hold back her hair.

June 15th, 2:13 PM, St Mary's Protestant Church.

"Stop fidgeting, Alexandra!" Lila scolded as she zipped up Alex's dress. "I swear you're worse than a child!"

Alex ignored her as she picked up her phone and called Olivia again, receiving no answer once more.

"I'm worried, mom. She hasn't called me once," Alex reminded her as she put her phone away in her purse, and its fifteen minutes until it's time!"

"She's probably just as busy as you are; now stop moving or you're grounded!"

Alex let out a huff of annoyance but none the less stopped moving as best she could as Lila made sure every detail about Alex was perfect.

Alex's dress was bright white and strapless, tightly fitted around the chest but the skirt part flowed out like a bell and reached the floor, with the subtlest hint of white and silver beading all throughout the dress, the pearls Lila had given her last night hanging around her neck.

Her hair was now full of soft waves that hung down, with just a few pieces in the back pinned up., the veil flowing nicely down it.

Even with the bruises left over from the attack, she looked absolutely breathtaking.

Alex turned to Lila whose own hair was pinned up underneath a light blue hat, wearing a flowy floor length light blue dress with the same colored jacket, a white corsage pinned to her collar.

"How do I look?" Alex asked as she spun around, Lila looking her over, almost cringing at the question, expecting some form of harsh criticism.

Lila looked her over for a moment and bit her bottom lip. "You look beautiful, Alexandra."

Alex smiled at Lila for a moment before the two women hugged one another.

"I love you, mom," Alex whispered, feeling tears in her own eyes, letting out a sob.

Lila pulled away and handed Alexandra a tissue from her bag. "Don't you dare ruin your makeup, I spent an hour on it," Lila said as she dabbed at her own eyes.

Alex let out a small laugh and nodded as she gently wiped away the tears from her eyes. "Alright, I promise I won't."

There was a knock at the dressing room door and Lila cleared her throat before she called out.

"Come in."

The door opened to someone Alex never thought she would see again.

"Good afternoon, Alexandra," Edward said dryly, glowering furiously at her.

Alex and Lila glared at him as he came into the dressing room, his eyes narrowed at her.

"What are you doing here? Get out!" Alex shouted starting to go over to him, but Lila stopped her.

"I was just driving by, when imagine my surprise to see on the announcement board right outside, 'Alex Cabot and Olivia Benson Wedding: 2:30 PM'. I thought to myself, there has to be a mistake, there's no way _my _Alexandra is some low life devil worshipping fag! Your roommate I had suspensions about, but you?"

Edward shook his head as he got closer to her. "You disgust me! You and that ugly dyke you're 'marrying'!"

"Don't you dare insult her!" Alex snapped.

Edward chuckled cruelly while still glaring at her. "Trust me, me 'insulting' her is gonna be the least of her problems."

He got closer to a now truly frightened Alex who refused to back down. "I'll see you around, fag."

Raising a hand up to caress her cheek, Alex pulled away.

Looking her up and down he turned on his heels and left. "If you ever want the experience of being a real woman, let me know!"

Alex took a shaky breath before turning back to Lila who shook her head in disgust. "What on earth did I ever see in that man? I'm sorry for ever saying he would be a good match for you, Alexandra. I honestly didn't know he was pure evil underneath the good looking façade."

Alex took a shaky breath before she nodded, forcing a smile on her face again.

"It's fine. I'll just be sure to tell the guards to be on the look for him and throw him out. A disgusting low life like Edward Lancaster is not going to ruin my wedding day."

"Good. I paid too much for him to ruin it.

Turning her around, Lila began to fix her hair.

Giving a hopeful smile, Alex pulled out her phone once more and dialed Olivia's number again, her smile disappearing as it went to voicemail again.

"She's still not answering!" she said as she thrust the phone back in her purse.

"Now really, Alexandra!" Lila cried, clearly exasperated, trying to make sure every piece of Alex's hair was in place. "I don't understand why you're so upset over such an insignificant detail like this when there's so much more that could go wrong today!"

"Because Olivia is missing!" Alex shouted, twisting away from her. "I'd say that petty little detail could be, you know, kind of important!"

A look of fear took over Alex's face, realization dawning on her. "You don't... you don't think he would do anything to hurt her, do you?"

"I think Olivia is more than capable of defending herself against him if he was stupid enough to try anything. God knows the woman is butch enough," she added, gaining a glare from Alex. "And just think of it this way. If she doesn't show up, you get a free cake out of this whole ordeal."

Alex simply looked at Lila for a moment before she pulled out her cell phone from her purse. "I'm calling her again," she muttered, storming away from Lila, fear and worry obvious in her face.

Alex sighed as she began to walk, her eyes on the lookout for Olivia, Elliot, or anyone who could be of any help in telling her where Olivia was before she turned the corner and ran right into the Munch.

He nearly fell and had to hold onto the wall to keep from falling to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Alex asked as he attempted to straighten himself out.

"Don't shout," he groaned as he turned to her, his eyes evidently bloodshot even through his sun glasses.

Alex raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I didn't think I was. Are you okay, and shouldn't you be ready to go down the aisle with Donnelly in about," Alex looked at her watch and groaned, "five minutes?"

Munch moaned and shook his head. "I had a bit too much to drink last night."

Alex sighed in annoyance as she crossed her arms. "So you're telling me you hand a hangover when you're part of the wedding party?"

"I plead the fifth," he said as he tried, and failed, to straighten himself out once more.

Alex shook her head. "I can still smell the booze on you, Munch! What did you guys do last night?"

Munch thought for a moment before he spoke. "I remember a sexy cop giving Olivia a strip tease… Simon left, and Olivia ended up puking at the end of it. I fell asleep and it looked like Olivia had a pretty nasty hangover this morning, I didn't stick around to ask."

Alex's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "Olivia… Olivia drank so much she got hung-over?"

"Massively hung-over," Munch corrected. "That's why she didn't get her stuff this morning or come home last night; she was still puking out the remnants of last night when she had to go, and decided to spend the night in Elliot's bathroom praying to the porcelain god.

Alex shook her head in annoyance and disbelief. "I can't believe her! Is that why she's not answering her phone?"

Munch nodded. "She got a call about eleven last night and she had such a big headache that she just turned the ringer on silent."

"I can't believe her!" Alex shouted, gaining a loud 'shh!' from Munch. "She promised she wouldn't get drunk! Where the hell is she now?"

"Last time I checked, she was in her dressing room."

Storming away from Munch, Alex walked over to the other dressing room.

Not bothering to knock, Alex slammed open the door, not seeing Olivia but hearing someone throwing up in the tiny bathroom.

Alex went over to it and all but kicked the door open, her anger heightening at what she saw.

Olivia was on her knees, vomiting into the toilet, in her wedding dress, while Elliot n his tux bent down behind her holding her veil away from her face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Alex snapped as Olivia groaned lowly and both she and Elliot turned to Alex. "You promised me you wouldn't get drunk! You promised me you wouldn't show up hung over today!"

"Leave her alone, Alex," Elliot demanded, but Alex ignored him.

"I mean seriously, Olivia, was getting crocked last night more important than getting married or do you just not care about getting married or being sober for today? Do you realize what my mother is gonna say when she sees you completely hung over at the ceremony?"

"Alex!" Elliot shouted, causing Olivia to groan once more, as he got up and walked over to her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away from the bathroom.

"Get off me!" Alex shouted as she pushed him away narrowing her eyes in anger at him.

"Don't fight," they heard Olivia plead, followed by the sound of the toilet flushing.

"Don't yell at her!" Elliot told Alex, ignoring Olivia's plea. "You have no idea what's going on with her!"

"Yes I do! She got drunk and-."

"Wrong, she has the stomach flu!"

Alex raised her brow in confusion as she turned to Olivia who sighed in annoyance at Elliot but ultimately nodded.

She turned back to Elliot and crossed her arms. "Munch said she got cocked."

"Munch was completely cocked himself and probably only remembers Olivia being sick. I swear on my life she had half a beer and drank that in a two hour period. She doesn't have a hangover, she's sick."

Alex's face softened considerably as she turned back to Olivia again.

"It's true," Olivia spoke in a shaky whisper, her throat hurting her too much to talk any louder as she stood up and walked over to them. "The stripper is a med student and diagnosed me with the stomach flu."

Alex raised her eyebrow as she went over and placed the back of her hand to Olivia's forehead and gasped when it nearly burned her skin.

"Oh god, you're burning up, Liv!"

"104.3 A hour ago," Elliot admitted. "She won't let me take her home."

Alex's eyes widened as she turned back to Olivia. "Olivia, you could die with a fever like that! You have to go home! We'll have the wedding another day, we'll post pone it."

"I swear I'm fine, Alex," Olivia whispered, every syllable causing her unimaginable pain in her throat, the pain in her head pounding, the bright lights in the dressing room making her want to go vomit again.

Alex chuckled softly as she stroked her cheek tenderly. "Do you want to go?"

Olivia shook her head, withholding a groan. "No. You wanted the perfect wedding, and that's," she took out a tissue and blew, and Alex couldn't help but smile as she pulled it away, her nose bright red, "what I'm going to give you."

"Honey, with all due respect... when I saw you puking in the church dressing room is when that flew out the window.

Olivia tried to smile, and Alex leaned into kiss her, being somewhat shocked as Olivia pushed her away.

"I'm gonna be sick," Olivia groaned, all but running back into the bathroom.

Alex walked over to her and held her veil away from her face.

"Go away," Olivia groaned, leaning her head against the cool toilet bowl. "I don't want to get this on your dress."

"I don't care," Alex said as Olivia once again threw up into the toilet.

Once she was done, she fell back, tears in her eyes, her chest heaving. "I'm sorry," she breathed. "Alex, I'm so sorry."

Alex looked at her in confusion as she pulled a small pack of mint gum from the bosom of her dress. "For what?"

Olivia scoffed as she gratefully took a piece of gun. "Are you serious? I ruined your wedding day. The day you dreamed about since you were five years old."

Alex let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "No you didn't. It's not your fault your sick. I don't care if we have a bunch of big flowers or guests or anything... I just wanted to do this with you."

"You're lying," Olivia moaned, putting her head back in the toilet bowl, breathing heavily.

"Well... maybe a little, but I don't care. My parents are the one who spent all the money on it, after all."

Olivia managed a weak chuckle before she took a deep breath and turned to Alex.

"Are we still going on the wedding?"

Before Alex could answer, the door opened, and Alex saw Fin walk in.

"Is she okay? Because some of the guests are starting to wonder if bride number one is getting cold feet."

Olivia threw her head back into the bowl and began retching once more, and Alex rubbed her back softly. "To yours and her questions, no."

An hour later, Elliot carrying Olivia wedding style as she wrapped her arms around him, her head buried in his shoulder, blocking out the harsh city lights, Alex opened the door to her and all three walked in.

"Where do you want her?"

"Just bring her up to bed," Alex told him as she went into the kitchen. "I'm gonna get her some Advil and a drink of water."

"Make sure it's extra warm," Elliot said with a chuckle, earning a low groan from Olivia who clung to him tighter.

"And a bucket," she moaned as he brought her up the steps.

Once upstairs, Elliot gently laid Olivia down on the bed, unzipping her dress and slowly pulling it off her.

"It's my wedding night, and my partner gets to see me undressed before my wife. That's not fair," she muttered as Elliot walked over to her dresser and began to search through her drawers for something that counted as pajamas.

"Like I haven't seen you baring it all before," he said with a chuckle.

He finally decided on a baggy T-shirt.

"I'm cold," she complained, shaking slightly, curling herself into a tiny ball, her eyes shutting as Elliot pulled the T-shirt over her head.

"That's just the fever. You're actually burning up."

"I don't care. I want a blanket."

Elliot sighed before finally giving into her request and covered her up with the heavy fleece blanket.

"Alex hates me," Olivia mumbled as she closed her eyes.

"Alex doesn't hate you," Elliot said as he sat next to her in the bed. "Lila might hate you, but she hates everyone."

"Lila actually started crying," Olivia muttered, even in sickness she could manage a smile at the memory entered her mind. "I heard her when Alex told her to go in and make the announcement."

"Now that is a wedding picture that would have been worth getting framed."

Olivia managed a chuckle before Olivia gagged and sat up in bed as Elliot backed up at once.

"Alex, we need that bucket now!"

"I'm fine," Olivia gasped as she fell back on her pillow, "and please don't yell."

Elliot nodded and sat back down. "You'll get better soon, Olivia, and when you do, it'll be beautiful."

Olivia shook her head, tears flooding her eyes. "I can't do this again. The planning, and the stress, and the Lila… I don't want this again. Maybe this is Gods way of saying I shouldn't be married."

"I thought you were an Atheist."

"With all the bad stuff that's been happening to me these past two weeks, I'm really starting to doubt the existence of a smug little homophobic prick up there that makes lives miserable."

Rolling his eyes and biting his tongue at Olivia's remark as he nonchalantly rubbed the crucifix tattoo on his shoulder.

They heard footsteps on the stairs and Alex, still in her wedding dress, appeared with a large bottle of Tylenol, a glass of ginger ale, and the mop bucket.

Placing the bucket on the floor beside Olivia, both she and Elliot barely had enough time to get out of the way before Olivia leaned over and vomited into the bucket.

"I got it from here," Alex told him as she climbed in bed next to her, gently moving the hair away from her face as she threw up once more into the bucket.

Elliot said not another word and left the two alone, closing the door behind him.

Once she was done, Olivia leaned up and collapsed against the pillow, her eyes already shutting.

"Some wedding night," she muttered, sleep over taking her.

Alex chuckled. "Some wedding night," she repeated, moving the hair away from her face.

June 16th, 9:13 AM, Olivia and Alex's brownstone.

"Liv," Alex breathed softly, gently shaking Olivia awake.

Olivia moaned softly before she opened her eyes and looked at Alex who smiled sweetly down at her. "How you feeling?"

"A little better. Now it only feels like four trucks ran over me instead of five."

"Well at least you're feeling better. Alex held the back of her hand to Olivia's head and let out another smile. "Your fevers going down some."

Olivia managed a small chuckle as she took a small sip of ginger ale, but thought better of it as she once again held back emptying her stomach. "Well I've got a pretty good nurse."

Alex chuckled as well and sat up in bed, now wearing a baggy shirt and pajama pants. "Are you up for a few visitors?"

Olivia thought about it for a moment before she nodded.

Alex got up from the bed and walked over to the door and opened in, and Olivia couldn't help but smile as Elliot, Cragen, and Simon walked in, followed by Munch and Fin, and finally Lila, Max, and Reverend Steven Biao, all apart from Lila who was wearing the dress and hat she planned on wearing yesterday, wearing casual clothes.

"What's going on?" Olivia asked Alex as she walked back to the bed, sitting up in the bed.

"I overheard what you said to Elliot yesterday," Alex admitted as she sat back in the bed. "About you not wanting to do the huge big wedding again, so I convinced the people closest to us to do it here."

Olivia looked at her for a moment before she smiled as big as she had these past two days. "I'd kiss you, but I love you too much to torture you like that."

Alex chuckled and handed Olivia a pack of spearmint gum from her bedside stand. "I got it covered."

Olivia took three pieces and quickly stuck it in her mouth, shaking her head. "God I love you."

The two women grinned at one another before they turned back to the small group of people.

"Let's do this."

"You know as many times as I've been married," Munch admitted, now completely sober as he and Fin went and stood beside Simon and Elliot, Max standing next to Alex, "I never did it inside my bedroom. Or any bedroom for that matter."

"Shut up, Munch," half of the room said to him.

Olivia chuckled as they turned to Steven who opened up the bible he had brought with him.

"Are we ready to begin?"

"Wait!" Lila cried as she rushed over to Alex's bedside table and quickly pulled out the white pearls she was supposed to be wear yesterday and quickly clasped it around her neck.

"Now it's official," she said with a nod as she walked in front of the bed, giving Alex a tiny wink.

Steven nodded as well and cleared his throat as he looked at the two women.

"Who gives this woman, Alexandra Cabot, away?"

"I do," Max said calmly as he looked down at Alex and grinned at her before she leaned down and hugged her tightly.

"I love you, Alex."

"I love you too, dad," Alex said, biting back tears already.

They held on for a few more moments before they released the hug and Max moved some of the hair out of Alex's face before he turned to Olivia and gave Olivia her own smile.

"I always had some kind of threat I was prepared to tell her wife when I gave her away that 'you better take care of her' or 'you better treat her good', but the moment I knew she was marrying you, I knew I wouldn't need it."

"Thanks, Max," Olivia said with a kind smile that quickly disappeared when she felt her flu hit her with full force again.

Max gave her a brief nod before he walked over to Lila who already had tears rolling down her face and wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her tight against him.

"And who gives this woman, Olivia Benson, away?"

"I do," Cragen said just as calmly as Max.

Cragen turned to Olivia and bent down to hug her, but she held out her hand to stop him. "You really think I'm gonna get blamed if you have to put Munch in charge if you get sick?"

"Good point. But I can still say congratulations, and you deserve to be happy more than anyone I've ever met in my life."

Giving her a smile he turned to Alex and his face hardened some. "Treat her right, Alex. She's everything to us."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Alex told him.

Cragen gave a curt nod to her before he also went back to the head of the bed and stood next to Max and Lila.

Steven opened his book and cleared his throat before he began to read.

"We are gathered here, in the bedroom of Olivia Magdalena Benson and Alexandra Rosalie Cabot, to join these two women in holy matrimony. Two women who are fortunate enough to find love in today's world, to hold someone in their heart as close as God holds you both to his.

Do you, Olivia Benson, take Alexandra Cabot to be your lawfully wedded life time partner?"

Before Olivia could answer, Elliot walked over to him and whispered something in his ear.

The priest looked at him in confusion before he nodded.

"Forgive me. Do you, Olivia Benson, take Alexandra Cabot to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Olivia said as she looked at Alex, gently wiping the tear from the blondes face.

"Do you promise to love, honor, and cherish her for the rest of your life? For richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

Olivia took a few deep breaths, forcing the contents of her stomach to stay down, before she spoke. "I do."

"And do you, Alexandra Cabot, take Olivia Benson to be your lawful wedded wife?"

"I do," Alex replied, taking a shaky tear filled breath, the smile on her face a million miles wide.

"Do you promise to love, honor, and cherish her for the rest of your life? For richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

Alex nodded. "I do."

Steven closed the book and turned to Elliot. "Do you have the rings?"

Elliot nodded and pulled two beautiful golden rings with two small diamonds on top of each of them and handed one to Olivia and one to Alex.

"The couple has written their own vows, which they will repeat now. Alex will go first."

Alex took a deep breath before she took Olivia's hands in her own, the two women looking into one another's eyes.

"Olivia, when I started working at Special Victims Unit ten years ago, you became my best friend. When you first started talking to me, all I could think was that how I wanted to be like you. Strong, independent, brave; everything I'm not. So when you tried to hook me up with Fin and I told you I was a lesbian, and you admitted it as well, I couldn't even look at you for days because I knew that I would never be able to look at you without wanting to be with you, and knowing you were, and still are way to good for me."

They both heard Lila make a small noise but ultimately decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

"So we just remained friends," Alex continued, "and I couldn't even look at another woman without thinking of you. Then one day three years ago, I decided to take a chance and I asked you out, and when you said yes, I knew that we were going to be together forever.

These past few weeks, we've had some really rough spots, just like we did last December, but even with all the arguments, all the fighting, all the everything, I know that that'll just make us stronger as a couple, that it will prove we can get through anything as long as we do it together. I love you, Olivia. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life, and I promise to never do anything to mess us up again."

Olivia had to bite back her own tears as Alex took a deep breath and slipped the gold ring onto Olivia's finger, wiping away the tears on the sheet, and Alex could hear Lila trying, and failing, to cover up her own sobs.

"Alright, Olivia," Steven said, "If you would like to read your own vows now."

Olivia took a shaky breath before she began.

"Alex, I knew that I was gay since I was twelve years old, but I knew I wanted to be with you since I knew what love was. You say that I'm everything you aren't; well I think you might have your vows backwards because you're more than I could ever hope to be. We're not a perfect couple. We fight, we bicker, we get into arguments, and I think these last two weeks have proved this more than anything. We both do stuff that annoys the other one, both too little and big degrees, and these past two weeks have made me realize that that's alright. Because no matter what we fight or argue over, we'll get past it. We'll get past it because we love one another. We love each other more then we care about politics, or flowers, or parents, or wealth, or partners, or job aspirations. And I will always love you more then all that stuff, for the rest of my life, and I know you'll do the same."

Both women were now visibly crying as Olivia slipped on Alex's ring, and Steven had to take his own shaky breath before he continued.

"I bless both these women," he read, "in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, to have a long, happy, and love filled life with one another to the end of eternity, both on earth and in the kingdom of Heaven. By the power vested in me by God, our father, and the state of New York, I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Practically jumping into her arms, Alex kissed Olivia full on the mouth, Olivia doing the same, holding her as close as she could to her.

"I now announce for the first time; Mrs. Alexandra and Olivia Benson!" Steven shouted over the cheers of the rest of the room.

Only when both needed air did they finally release, but they still clung to one another tightly.

"I love you, Liv," Alex whispered softly.

"I love you too," Olivia told her just as quiet.

They kissed one another once more before they broke apart and beamed at the rest of the room.

"We're married!" Alex shouted joyfully, nearly bouncing up and down in the bed.

"Alex, baby, still sick," Olivia groaned as she closed her eyes and had to take deep breaths to calm her stomach.

Alex blushed and gave her a shy smile. "Sorry."

The rest of the room let out a laugh before there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Fin announced as he walked out of the room and down the stairs.

"I don't care if I get sick," Simon said with a grin as he made his way over to the bed and bent down and hugged Olivia. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, Simon."

He released the hug and turned to Alex and for a moment it looked like he was going to hug her, but both parties decided a simple handshake would be much better.

"Oh, Alexandra, I'm so happy for you!" Lila cried as she and Max rushed over to her and hugged her tightly.

"Thanks, mom," Alex said as she then moved to Max who hugged her just as tight.

Lila then turned to Olivia, and the entire room almost got deathly silent as Lila cleared her throat. "I'd touch you, but you're all germy. You understand, of course?"

Olivia let out a sad chuckle and nodded. "Why on earth I thought you would have changed is beyond my comprehension, but yes, I understand, Lila."

Lila gave her a slight glare for a moment and opened her mouth to speak before Fin reappeared.

"Um, Liv, Alex, there's two guys here that says they're from Safe Baby Playtime, says they had an appointment set up today.

The whole room grew silent again and turned to Alex who looked just as wide eyed and confused as Olivia.

"Um, Alex," Olivia spoke, her voice shaking somewhat, "is there something you want to tell me?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Alex said just as amazed.

"Oh come on," Lila said with a scoff and an eye roll, making the whole room look at her. "There's no point in setting these things up to early you know. After all, you two are planning on having children one day soon. I even got a list of baby names started. How do you feel about Elizabeth Parish Cabot for a girl; or Theodore Montgomery Cabot for a boy? "

Alex turned to Olivia who simply chuckled and shook her head before she pulled Alex into yet another passionate kiss.

**The End.**

**A/N I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and story as much as I did writing it. And as promised, here is an ultra special sneak peak at Meet The Cabots Three: Baby Blues, with more drama, romance, humor, and more of my favorite OC and yours, Lila Cabot.**

"Lila, you don't understand! You have to come to the hospital now!" Olivia cried frantically. "She wants you! She was asking for you!"

"Alexandra and I are no longer speaking, Olivia, as you are well aware!" Lila snapped, ignoring the pleading in Olivia's eyes. "It's too late for her apologies, and it will do her good for you to remind her of that, and to remind her that she shouldn't be so cruel to her own mother in a time of need!"

Lila turned to go back inside, but Olivia grabbed a hold of her arm, clinging to it like it was her last resort.

"Please!" Olivia begged, hanging on to the arm of her mother in law to keep her from going back inside as she finally reached her breaking point.

Lila twisted around, her eyes widening at the detectives actions. "What on earth?"

"Alex is dying!" Olivia screamed in desperation, no longer holding back the sobs that had threatened to escape her since the doctor told her the news. "She and the baby might die, and I don't know what to do! Please, Lila!" Olivia sobbed, saying the three words she never thought she would ever say to the woman standing before her. "Please help me!"

**What happens next? What happened before? Just gonna have to read AND REVIEW the next story in the AO saga that's sweeping the SVU reading fan fiction nation by storm to find out what happens and be on the lookout for "Meet The Cabots Three: Baby Blues" coming to a fan fiction site near you! As well as some "Meet The Cabots Prelude" one shots coming your way too.**


	14. Chapter 14

Hello all! Just bumping this story so that people who have never read them before or may have forgotten the first or second or even the third story can read them again and then start on the fourth and final installment of the amazingly epic MTC series which is now posted and ready to read.

Enjoy if you never read a word of them and enjoy again if you've read it before :)

Sincerely, Bella.


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